Hymns instead of anger: From Despair to Where

It's been more than 30 years since rock music was still important and had great relevance. Artists were not pop bunnies who sang with computer voices, but stars with guitars, poets, explainers of the world.

We look back in a series. Today we look at "Gold Against The Soul", the second album of the welsh Manic Street Preachers...

If the loudmouths had stayed honest, this record wouldn't even exist. The Manic Street Preachers had already announced before their debut album "Generation Terrorists" that the band would break up immediately after their big breakthrough.

That didn't happen, but at least the street preachers put a lot of effort into "Gold Against The Soul", the maliciously anticipated follow-up. "Gold Against The Soul" is no longer intended to audibly sum up the history of rock music in 75 minutes. Last year's braggarts, who sold their interesting but never sensational music with a lot of slapstick and ostentatious megalomania, now only want to convince with music.

"Gold Against The Soul", which once again mixes energetic glam rock with dark lamentations to form a maudlin all-round punch of two-chord hymns and thin-voiced, naive singing, is proof that the Manic Street Preachers are more than just an inflated hype balloon. However, this band already has the future of rock'n'roll behind them.