Manic Street Preachers: James Dean Bradfield (vocals, guitar); Richey James (guitar); Nicky Wire (bass); Sean Moore (drums).

All songs written by Manic Street Preachers.

The tragic and unresolved disappearance of Richey Edwards looms larger than life every time this album is played. Just as they were being hailed as the potential "next big thing," the band was thrown into disarray, and as a result, this credible album was somewhat overlooked while the world searched for Richey. Now that the dust has settled and people have accepted his likely demise, this album can at last be appreciated. Even though the spoken introduction "Of Walking Abortion" is spookily prophetic, the understated quality of all the songs puts this album much closer to the gigantic EVERYTHING MUST GO than its success would indicate.

What the critics say...

Q (7/01, p.87) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time".
Q (10/01, p.94) - Ranked #10 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"
Q (5/97, p.139) - 3 Stars (out of 5) - "...the tone of the album is by turns bleak, angry and resigned, marked by [Richey] Edwards's confessional Sylvia Plath-isms...Moving, but not easy, listening."
Uncut (p.87) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Richey dominates lyrically, combining insectoid self-loathing and snarling self-respect with rare intellectual intensity."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.57) - Ranked #81 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "[L]o-fi recording ethics, lyrics of terrifying self-evisceration, driven by savage skeletal meta-punk."
Mojo (Publisher) (2/02, p.84) - "...Their masterpiece..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 - "With the passing of time, THE HOLY BIBLE makes even more sense..."