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Jul 21, 2014They're more infatuated with Neu! and Kraftwerk or Public Image Ltd, but these jagged, difficult sounds are filtered through the trio's now instinctual arena-filling gestures and that tension is what gives Futurology a resonant richness.
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Jul 1, 2014Futurology is the Manics doing what they do best, with added Krautrock, Georgia Ruth and Green Gartside.
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Classic Rock MagazineDec 18, 2014Futurology isn't just the best album the Manic Street Preachers have made this century, it's arguably the best album of the year. [Aug 2014, p. 206]
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Jul 1, 2014The bloat of Tigers and Postcards is gone without a trace; in its place is the sound of a band that’s slain the AOR dragon and finally got back to making the music they feel like making.
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Kerrang!Jul 22, 2014The Maniacs prove persuasive enough to bring you round to their way of thinking. [12 Jul 2014, p.54]
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MojoJul 2, 2014Ultimately, Futurology is brave and unexpected, and though some of it galls, much is magnificent. [Aug 2014, p.87]
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Jul 1, 2014Every track is quite full of life and holds no lack of energy that characterizes good, classic British rock ‘n’ roll.
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Jul 3, 2014Taking so many chances means there are inevitable hiccups, but they scarcely matter.
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Aug 15, 2014Futurology can just about stand toe-to-toe with any of their past albums. Even if it doesn’t surpass any of their “classics” (pick one), it’s comes close enough that you won’t really care.
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Q MagazineJul 1, 2014As long as they continue to ask themselves difficult questions, and answer them with records as full of fire and vitality as Futurology, failure is not an option. [Jul 2014, p.113]
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Jul 1, 2014Futurology is a much more polished and decidedly odd record featuring some of the band’s most enjoyably gonzo work since debut Generation Terrorists, as well as their most forwardthinking music to date.
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Jul 21, 2014There’s plenty to be pleased about here.
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Jul 3, 2014Futurology never feels like a pastiche, and sounds unmistakably like the Manic Street Preachers while sounding unlike any other album they've made.
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Jul 14, 2014The Manics’ band identity proves robust enough to withstand the tweaking.
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Jul 7, 2014Futurology just happens to be their most daring folly yet.
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The Observer (UK)Jul 7, 2014No chance of paunchy homage here; lyrics cluttered with Munch, war and the Chartists and the tightly coiled energy of its best moments, such as Misguided Missile and instrumental closer Mayakovsky, suggest they are fronting up to middle age rather well.
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Jul 8, 2014The album was recorded in Berlin and the dark pulse of that Krautrock influence gives the songs a steely sleekness of purpose (and real cohesion), while the band layer a vigorous variety of sounds and tempos on top to keep things interesting.
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UncutJul 7, 2014For the most part, though, this is the Manics as you'd want them to be--thrilling, bombastic and sometimes ridiculous, but still raging. [Aug 2014, p.75]
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Aug 21, 2014With their twelfth album and one of their best in years, Manic Street Preachers display a stylistic freedom that one might call reinvention if it didn't still sound just like the Manics.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 25 out of 29
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Mixed: 2 out of 29
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Negative: 2 out of 29
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Jul 22, 2017
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Jul 23, 2014
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Jul 23, 2014