amazing album, one of my all time favorites. had a blast watching a livestream of their concert yesterday too
2
StockyOakMar 27, 2026
+1
It's such a good album! When people talk of "dark albums", yes there are some tremendous pieces such as *A Downwards Spiral* or *Disintegration*, but this should be right up near the top. It's such a good social commentary.
1
einarfridgeirsMar 27, 2026
+2
The most underrated rock album of the 90s.
Should be in the discussion alongside anyone you might care to mention as the peak of the grunge/alt rock era.
2
StockyOakMar 28, 2026
+1
I think it partially missed out on that era due to the fact they were Welsh. There was a lot of focus on US and English music, but Scotland, Wales and such seemed pushed to the side at that point in time, or at least weren't acknowledged.
Fortunately, they started getting their flowers with *Everything Must Go*, but this brilliant album was outside of that window when the focus moved towards the UK as a whole.
1
einarfridgeirsMar 28, 2026
+2
The band had scored some major UK hits prior to this album, with Motorcycle Emptiness, Suicide is Painless and others. Going into this album they had Top 10 UK hits with both singles and albums and were absolute NME darlings.
The main reason this album gets overlooked I think is twofold - for one, it is an outlier in their discography in terms of just how incredibly bleak it is, and reviewers at the time had a hard time getting to grips with its darkness after it having been much-anticipated as their potential big break album. Second is that they didn't really promote it as Richey Edwards disappeared just as it was released, which meant their planned US tour got cancelled and the bands future was completely uncertain for a crucial six months. Once they decided to go forward without their vanished friend they decided to just move on and work on new material rather than promote and tour an album so incredibly wrapped up in a huge personal tragedy for the band.
2
StockyOakMar 27, 2026
+1
Aggressive rock assault written by Welsh rock superstars *Manic Street Preachers* about giving undesireables "the respect they deserve", introduced by a haunting audio clip from 1981.
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