Review Summary: Another excellent album from the Welsh veterans, who continue to write intelligent and anthemic songs.
Since 2007's Send Away the Tigers, the Manic Street Preachers have been settling into what could be called their "mature phase." This was particularly evident on their last three albums, Postcards from a Young Man (2010), Rewind the Film (2013) and Futurology (2014). Musically, those albums utilised distinct sonic palettes - Postcards... was heavy on the strings & choirs, Rewind the Film's more subdued arrangements featured brass and acoustic guitars, and Futurology had a synthy sheen - but stuck to the band's long-established anthemic pop-rock blueprint. Lyrically, each of those albums, in its own way, was an exploration of where a band whose original USP was agit-prop welded to mainstream rock fit in to a world where old political certainties have been shattered.
The title of the new album expresses this new lyrical preoccupation perfectly. Resistance Is Futile can simultaneously be interpreted as an admission of defeat and as a celebration. By the band's standards, and in keeping with the three previous albums, it's not a very political record - at least, not directly. The lyrics refer to cultural figures primarily associated with the 20th Century, such as Yves Klein, Dylan Thomas and Vivian Maier, rather than, say, laying into Tory austerity or tackling Brexit and Trump. One can, of course, infer a political message, or at least a general attitude toward politics, but they're not exactly raging against the machine. The band is turning away from overt resistance while celebrating the irresistible.
For that to work, of course, the songs on the album have to be irresistible. At least a couple of them really are. International Blue, an 80s Van Halen-channeling pop-rock gem with echoes of the band's 1992 hit Motorcycle Emptiness, is as catchy as bubonic plague and a genuine Manics classic. Dylan & Caitlin, a duet with the Anchoress, is lyrically a dialogue between the ghost of Dylan Thomas and his widow. It's just as infectious as International Blue - thanks to a melody partly borrowed from Don't Go Breaking My Heart - and genuinely poignant, and it sits right up there with the other great Manics duets, Little Baby Nothing and Your Love Alone Is Not Enough. These two songs are absolute beauties and keepers for Manics setlists for years to come*.
The rest of the album isn't all on the same level, but it is very good. The opener, People Give In, is almost up there with the two standouts, a storming anthem of defeat and survival that the band were very clever not to release as a single, maximising its impact on release day. Distant Colours pulls the classic quiet-loud-quiet trick, trading subdued, slightly Cure-esque verses with one of those trademark Massive Manics Choruses. Sequels of Forgotten Wars, as well as having a great title, has an organ solo which reminds me of the late Keith Emerson, of all people, which I never thought I'd hear from the Manics but is perfectly welcome.
Other things I like about the album: James Dean Bradfield lays down some killer guitar lines, something that was mostly absent from the last couple of albums, however good they were. I particularly enjoy him on A Song for the Sadness, which has some lovely thick cheesy harmonised lead lines which really make the song; a great piece of arrangement. Also, surprisingly, bassist and primary lyricist Nicky Wire has two excellent vocal performances, on the affecting album closer The Left Behind and on the deluxe edition bonus track Concrete Fields. He's really grown as a singer since his vocal debut 17 years ago on the "aquired taste" Wattsville Blues**. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd love him to make another solo album.
I do have a couple of moans about the album which bring it down from the 4.5 which it was close to getting. Firstly, the production, or more specifically the mixing and mastering. Sadly, it's been brickwalled. The loudness wars strike again. It loses definition, and homogenises what are frequently very interesting arrangements. No need for it, chaps. If I want it loud, I'll turn it up. There are also a couple of songs that don't quite gel. Vivian has a nice verse but the chorus shoots for anthemic and misses. Liverpool Revisited is a tribute to the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy and the resilience of the families, and a worthier theme I cannot imagine, but I don't think the song lives up to it. It's not a bad song, but the subject matter deserves a great one.
These gripes are relatively minor, though. The Manics have produced their fourth excellent album of the 2010s. In fact, Resistance Is Futile acts as a distillation of the previous three, incorporating musical elements from each and creating an artefact which is pure 2010s Manics. Artistically, it's been an extremely fertile decade for them. Long may they continue.
*Assuming, of course, that there ARE years to come. Don't break up, guys, I kind of like you!
**Well, I acquired it anyway. You just didn't try hard enough. Plastic fans.
