‘I hate purity, hate goodness, I don’t want virtue to exist anyway, I want everyone corrupt….’

Er… huh?!

Could you imagine how it was for me, after all these years of listening to post-Richey Manics, to actually sit down and listen to “The Holy Bible” for the first time? That album is not fun. It is very good. But if seeing the absolute worst in mankind is your thing, then “The Holy Bible” will be the best 56 minutes of your life.

No lies, I listened to “The Holy Bible” for the first time nearing the end of last year when Manic Street Preachers came to mind for some reason. Before then I’ve only known of the ‘A Design for Life/If You Tolerate This/You’re Not Alone’ Manics. The ones with the radio-friendly, festival anthems. So to say “Faster” was a change is a definite understatement. It took me a few minutes to get over what I had listened to.

What are essentially phrases, sentences and a few proverbs coined by Richey Edwards and Nicky Wire (mostly Richards) are placed with some of the most ferocious music that James Dean Bradfield and Sean Moore have written. The drumming by Moore seems to never end right until that final note, being quick on the bass drum with constant fills here and there and Bradfield melodically shouts at you against a two-note riff that symbolises uneasiness, fast rhythm guitars and loud licks and a terrifying solo before the coda.

This song is a bit scary and disturbing. I give it 10/10, good work.