Originally published by L.S. Media. October 1st 2010.

The Manic Street Preachers have always been one of those bands that want to go from populist music makers to ground breaking visionaries that produce an album just because they can.

Postcards from a Young Man, the tenth studio album by the Welsh rockers, seems as if the band has managed to combine these two separate ways of thinking into one album. With instantly recognisable songs that have the Manic feel stamped all over them, to songs that don’t quite fit with the rest of the endeavour, one thing for sure is that this album will never be accused of being staid or neglectful to its core fan base.

The album opens with a signature Manic Street Preachers song (It’s Not War) Just the End of Love which shows just how good the band are when they think outside of their comfort zone, with a sound that is obligingly thought provoking and appealing at the same time, it is the first of many songs that capture the imagination of the listener and offers the hope that the album will be as good as the first song all the way through.

The title track Postcards from a Young Man also plays nicely into this pattern of songs that will forever be memorable as the Manic sound but from there the album seems to spiral into the arty style that the band had said they were going to avoid.

Not that there’s anything wrong with art for music sake, and in parts it works so well that you will be shaking your head trying to work out what it is about some of the songs that just makes you wonder if they were nothing but fillers for a band that may be feeling its time has come all too soon.

On the whole, Postcards from a Young Man is an album that is worth exploring but it will come as a disappointment to some if this is to be the final album from a group that has been quite rightly lauded as one of the best groups ever.

Ian D. Hall