The Holy Bible

Honestly kicking myself for not listening to this before. This absolutely rips. Lyrically it's super intense and dark and instrumentally every song is really rocking. I think maybe the name scared me off previously but I'm glad I finally listened.

Not a fan of the album artwork, but the music was fine. Wouldn't mind this in the background. 4/5

I loved Everything Must Go, so I was excited to see this one come up. But, man, this one hits hard. The music is great, but the lyrics are DARK. Like, uncomfortably so. It's almost relieving that most of the time I couldn't tell what James Dean Bradfield was singing (he has very unusual cadences and pronunciations, but he sounds cool). Especially 4st 7lb - that one was really tough (about anorexia, which lyricist Richey Edwards suffered from, among the many things he suffered from before vanishing, presumably from suicide). Add in songs about despots, genocide, serial killers, and more and it's just an incredibly difficult album. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate dark music, but the lyrics started to feel oppressive (which might be what they were going for). I definitely loved the music - great songs and playing - I just don't think I could listen to this album too many times without falling into a serious hole of despair.

What an album. Incredibly bleak and dark, and with a real atmosphere running through the whole thing. It's thick with it. Even the guitars are quite heavy and grimy too. The lyrical content is so dense, but they've made it work so well, where if you disregard them, the songs and music still stand totally on their own.

While there are some standout songs, it's a whole album experience really. I'll chuck out special mention to 4st 7lb though because I love it. You can tell it was a lived experience. It's SO evocative with so many standout lines. You get the sense of a real person in there. 'I wanna walk in the snow and not leave a footprint. I wanna walk in the snow and not soil it's purity'. "Mother tries to choke me with roast beef and sits savouring her sole Ryvita. "That's the way you're built" my father said'. The song starts off so angry and heavy and it just melts into this heart-breakingly sad finale, and the final line, 'I've finally come to understand life through staring blankly at my navel'.

Very powerful stuff, and it still holds up today in a big way.

This guys voice bothers me. I don’t get why this is even on here. It’s a pretty bland rock album. Maybe it’s the vaguely political lyrics? Is this supposed to be an “important” album? I didn’t care for it, it was dull but try hard at the same time.

Some of this is alright, and some more is good. It's interesting to me how this album and band were playing the kind of music I listened to at the time, that I was devouring music and developing a taste at this time, and somehow this never came to my attention.

This COULD have wound up becoming something I listened to a thousand times. I think everyone has a band they feel like they're the band's only fan (for me, it's Self), and I feel like this band who never came to my attention is probably that for a lot of people.

Mausoleum was really cool and caught my attention really quickly. Parts reminded me of REM

Die in the Summertime sounds like of a lot of other stuff I was listening to at the time. Sort of reminds me of Porno for Pyros(?) And sort of Alice in Chains, maybe?

I'm not sure how I feel about this album. It's good and I like it, but I feel like I'd need some real history with it to be able to rate it higher than a 3

distilled essence of 1994

2.07

I think this album is much more interesting than a lot of people are giving it credit for. The opening one-two punch of "Yes" and "Ifwhiteamericatoldthetruthforonedayit'sworldwouldfallapart" makes for a total lyrical powerhouse, and both songs feature some pretty solid shifting arrangements and melodies. Perhaps my biggest gripe is that I don't think any of the following songs quite reach that same level, but I don't think any of them are remotely weak. "She Is Suffering", "Revol", and "Die in the Summertime" are additional highlights in my book, and again, far more lyrically fascinating than a lot of MSP's contemporaries. I didn't know Richey Edwards' story until halfway through the record, when I began to really sense the pain in these songs and read a bit more into them, and that context heightened my appreciation for it even more. I think this one could very well rise for me with repeated listens.

4/5

Heavy music with my favorite post-punk influences. Good singer, and I GET why this has so many huge fans. Intelligent.

It is, however, really difficult to listen to in light of the tragic disappearance of Edwards. Unpleasant to hear this person's mental breakdowns play out.

This is more metal than punk, thematically, inwardly-turned violence and self-loathing. E.g., name dropping Plath in a chorus is a BOLD CHOICE. If I heard this when it came out and I was a teenager It would be my favorite album of all time also.

3.5 rounded up,
'The Intense Humming of Evil' almost made it a 3

Forgettable

Manic is probably the best word to use to describe this album. The music itself is very good. The guitar tone, the riffs, the bass, the drumming, all great. It's not very elegant or coherent, but the point of it is to be abrasive to create a fast-paced, manic atmosphere that conveys the sort of paranoia and self-disgust Richey was feeling (reading about his sufferings and disappearance makes the album feel a lot more). It makes it very disturbing, especially with taking the lyrics into consideration.

The lyrics would be 10x more effective if I could actually understand what he was saying without having to follow along with the lyrics

Tedious hard rocking guitar rock with loads of attitude but barely a hook. It's loud and aggressive, but lacking the dynamics or memorbale riffs or artistry to make that interesting. Just mid-tempo, mid-level, noisey but not challenging, angsty, annoying and stressful. Really a slog - have never understood how this band got as big as they did, despite trying a few times!

The music doesn't really seem to align with the interstitials and the lyrics. Maybe it's a bit dated but it feels a bit safe for what the politics are.. generally okay ish rock.

I had tried to get into MSP in the past with less success than what I had with this album. Maybe I was just need to go to the earlier stuff? Pretty solid all around...a little harder than their contemporaries. 4/5

More non-Americans thinking they're cool and edgy for making fun of America and thinking they can solve all of our problems by criticizing us. As for the music I couldn't tell whether it was good or just repetitive. Maybe it would have helped if I could have heard anything that he was saying.

Solid Rock album.

Favorite songs: Archives of Pain, She Is Suffering, Revol, P.C.P., Yes, Of Walking Abortion

Least favorite songs: 4st 7lb, The Intense Humming of Evil

4/5

I had never heard of this. It sounded like “Make an album that teenager Michael would’ve loved,” so I’m sad I missed it when I was a teenager. But I still really liked it, though an hour was a bit much for 44 year old Michael.