Manic Street Preachers – Decline and Fall Review

Few things in life are certain. Death, taxes, the tri-yearly release of new Manic Street Preachers material. Mark the calendar. Our next instalment of decent, listenable rock from the Welsh band is here in the form of Decline and Fall. If its title were not obvious enough, the lyrical context and concepts found within certainly are. Sift through the similarly titled songs on Spotify, ignore Sparks and prepare yourself for more noise. It is what you would expect of the band, a now pop-adjacent effort which lacks the heart of their acclaimed, earlier releases. Their bite is gone and in its place is a relatively plain view of the world as a problematic area.  

Manic Street Preachers may see the decline and fall of the world around them but should be more concerned for their own. Decline and Fall is as by the numbers as it gets. A shame, too, considering those of the same generational talent as the Blackwood-born band are pushing the fold still. Paint by numbers with Manic Street Preachers, then. Your outrage is their muse. The band has no shortage of issues to tackle, such is the state of the world, but it all feels disingenuous. Even worse considering the band has staples of their back catalogue like A Design for Life and If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next, meaning their lacklustre political modernity feels like a downgrade. Their joyless pop rock is a shame but nobody can cling to the cultural relevancy of Welsh-born political leanings for thirty years.  

A shame, too, since artists now feel they have a responsibility and a duty to comment on the real world. This is no new device of cultural integrity, but few are doing it well. Manic Street Preachers are not. There is a lack of personality to it, a considerably withered charm which steered the band so well when they first made this noise. It is a fine piece in its own right, a listenable part of the Manic Street Preachers discography but what a fall. Not from grace, just a drop-off. An unfortunate reality kicks in and leaves the band with an emotionless tone. Decent, pop-like stuff with vague tinges of what made the band such a cultural force all those years ago. It feels like such a drop-off. Consider the quality of releases like The Ultra Vivid Lament and hear it disperse in just three and a half minutes.  

Vague and unambitious work from Manic Street Preachers is a shame. It is like the fall of a once mighty and relevant colossus. But their relevancy now comes from their tours, their live experiences and the retread of old grounds. Such is the cycle of nostalgia pit stops from bands who no longer seem to have the gutsy style or flavour of their past. Decline and Fall is simply uninteresting. It speaks to the usual tones of lamenting the world around them, with no change to the fabric of their earliest works, but a decline in lyrical subtext. Manic Street Preachers remain, like those in the trenches of life, rightly alienated by the horrors around them, but it means little to those who have heard this song, tone and style all before.