- Record Label: Columbia
- Release Date: Sep 15, 2009
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Journal for Plague Lovers winds up being The Holy Bible in reverse: every moment of despair is a reason to keep on living instead of an excuse to pack it all in.
-
Manics mine Richey’s last words for a return to the heart of darkness.
-
Disjointed, imperfect, tender and raw, at the final reckoning it sits as a fitting epitaph.
-
Journal For Plague Lovers is an outstanding album in its own right and is not "The Holy Bible." But then again, what is?
-
Not just a dignified salute to an absent friend, but a cracking album in its own right.
-
So while Journal for Plague Lovers doesn’t quite match up to The Holy Bible, essentially it doesn’t need to.
-
It's a shade better than Send Away The Tigers, itself heralded as a return to form, and in a year that hasn't really been anything special so far for straight-ahead rock, this is a standout.
-
Forgoing the arena-rock of recent years for something close to the barbed punk of their "Holy Bible" era--though less disjointed this time, and studded with hooks you could hang a feather boa from--they've made a complex but very listenable record.
-
This is also a brave, compelling record that stands shoulder to shoulder with the Manics’ best.
-
Overall, Journal For Plague Lovers is a strident comeback that would have been a worthy direct successor to "The Holy Bible" had circumstances been different.
-
This is something unique, often flawed and often flooring, and as fine and fitting a memorial for its lyricist as could be imagined.
-
Even if it were the desperate or cynical move some people have claimed it is, there's no denying that purging Edwards' old lyric folder has helped the band create its best album in a decade.
-
MojoRichey Edwards has his words set to the best music his bandmates have made since their last album together. [Jun 2009, p.97]
-
Nobody who has ever had some semblance of an interest in this band should ignore Journal For Plague Lovers, which is simply far more awesome than anyone had a right to expect.
-
Q MagazineBy breathing life into Richey Edwards's own last words, his friends have crafted not a memorial but a celebration. [Jun 2009, p.120]
-
With Journal for Plague Lovers, it feels like Manic Street Preachers have finally closed the door on a painful chapter in their career and, rather fittingly, they’ve done it with some aplomb.
-
FilterTo date, this is as close to their masterpiece, The Holy Bible, as they've ever come. [Fall 2009, p.92]
-
Under The RadarJournal resurrects the hunger and desperation that was the Manics' initial driving force, and in the process gives them a sense of purpose. [Fall 2009, p.64]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 70 out of 79
-
Mixed: 4 out of 79
-
Negative: 5 out of 79
-
Oct 23, 2014
-
Mar 8, 2023
-
Aug 29, 2022Underrated masterpiece where punk and intellect collide. If you like The Holy Bible here's part 2.