Welsh wizards (Gold Against The Soul - Manic Street Preachers)

Member Name: geordieger

Product:	Gold Against The Soul - Manic Street Preachers
Date:	19/04/02 (38 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: classic manics sound, good rocky album, diverse throughout

Disadvantages: none

The release of "Gold against the soul" saw the popularity of the Manic's take off. Unlike the previous album, this one sounds more polished and professional and contains tracks that every manic's fan has come to recognise as pivotal in the manic's success.

The album opens with "Sleepflower", a song that starts very gentle but explodes into guitar rock. "Morning always seems to stale to justify" identifies with almost everyone's opinion. The band show that they can harmonise well on vocals while still producing gritty rock.

Again "From despair to where" opens sedately with James' vocals but again explodes into the track that saw the manics jump from a mediocre band to household names. The memorable guitar riff leading to and running through the chorus builds this into a fantastic song, and the lyrics explain the pain felt when the song was wrote. "I try and walk in a straight line, an imitation of dignity, from despair to where?"

"La Tristesse durera" sees drums and bass opening, before James shows off his vocal range. Again harmonising is excellent and when the guitars enter the tempo is moved up a notch.

Big guitars open "Yourself" and this track goes back to the Manic's punk influence while combining their fresh indie rock feel.

"Life becoming a landmine" come in as a quiet vocal and accoustic guitar combination and continues in a sedate manner until the electric guitar moves in. This could have been a weak track on the album if it had continued so tamely but the mix of accoustic and electric sounds really make it a success.

"Drug drug druggy" could be seen as an anthem, it is catchy, rocky and the guitar on the track shows that the manics have matured since the last album.

This is possibly my favourite track on the album. "Roses in the hospital" opens with a drum line and t
hen straight into the verse. "We don't want your f**king love"
seems to make a statement that the manics have lived to, not wanting popularity from everyone but from people who really understand where they are coming from.

"Nostalgic pushead" has to be one of my favourite song titles ever. Again opening with a drum line before launching into the track, the song has a strong punk influence. "Rebellion always sells at a profit" seems to tell the obvious.

Whiring guitars open "Symphony of tourette" and the effects on the vocals add the theme of a drug induded listening. Choppy music throughout and a more metal feel to this song.

The title track "Gold against the soul" concludes the album and adds a funk rock feel showing the diversity of the manics repetoir.

The album is still a favourite of mine, and probably my favourite manics album, possibly because it is very rock orientated, leaning towards punk. The tracks gel well together making it a complete package as opposed to a group of songs.

Summary: