Manic Street Preachers
Rewind the Film

THE REVIEW

"I don't want my children to grow up like me, it is so destroying, it's a mocking disease. A wasting disease."

These words introduce the listening of Rewind The Film, a unique case in the discography of the English band, recorded at the famous Hansa Studios in Berlin.

For years, the Manics have changed their skin; the case of Richey (the guitarist and lyricist who mysteriously disappeared at the peak of the band's success), the new influences that Bradfield and Moore's music and songwriting have embraced over the years, and their new perspective.

Yes, because it is indeed the perspective that has undergone changes. The verses of the already mentioned This Sullen Welsh Heart, are clear: the frontman addresses the part of himself "that hates" describing it as the winner of an internal war.

War and Despair are precisely the words you will hear most in this concept.

The times are distant when the four railed against banks and the decadent prevailing culture; now the main topic is that of internal changes, nostalgia, and regrets.

In Anthem For A Lost Cause, the folk of the first seconds explodes into a waltz in the chorus, which I consider to be a valuable episode in their history.

Every Manic Street Preachers album is a novel. It tells you about stories and states of mind that are in perpetual conflict with each other, describing the fragilities and anger of the human being. Concepts that few like them have been able to express.

The second important novelty lies in the collaborations present in almost every track.

Lucy Rose accompanying James Dean Bradfield in the opener, and Cate Le Bon who fully interprets 4 Lonely Roads, are the female protagonists.

Richard Hawley's low and restless crooner voice adds a very mature expression to the title track.

A short time before the release, the band highlighted on Twitter the similarity with This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours (also characterized by suffering themes).

The true protagonist of the project is the acoustic guitar, as well, of course, as the strings and the sound experiments.

That same year, the Welsh would set out to create the more electric Futurology. Highly recommended album. Adult and melancholic to the right point, without falling into self-pity.