"A joyous anthem for an era of self-hatred": Manic Street Preachers launch celebratory new single Decline & Fall

(Image credit: Alex Lake)

Welsh rockers the Manic Street Preachers have released a new single, the typically euphoric Decline & Fall. It's the first track to emerge from the band's as-yet-untitled fifteenth album, the follow-up to 2021's The Ultra Vivid Lament.

“Musically with Decline & Fall we tried to create forward motion, a song which harnesses the past to propel it into the future," say the band. "The lyric is one of realisation and understanding, of celebrating the tiny miracles that still exist whilst accepting and embracing managed decline."

According to a statement accompanying the release, Decline & Fall is inspired by The Skids, Gran Turismo-era The Cardigans and The War on Drugs (the band, not the actual was on drugs). The statement concludes by insisting that Decline & Fall is "fully energised and utterly euphoric, a joyous anthem for an era of self-hatred."

The song was recorded at The Manics' Door To The River studio in Newport and at Rockfield Studios, Monmouth, and was produced by regular collaborators Dave Eringa and Loz Williams. It was mixed by Caesar Edmunds, who's previously worked with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, Queens of the Stone Age, PJ Harvey and Code Orange.

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Tomorrow evening (August 30) The Manics' will be the special guests at a screening of their 2016 concert movie Be Pure - Be Vigilant - Behave at the Picturehouse Central cinema in London.

The band also have two upcoming shows. They'll be performing at Radio 2 In The Park at Moor Park in Preston on September 8, and they've also confirmed a Japanese festival show for early next year. They'll appear alongside Pulp, Weezer, Primal Scream, the Lemon Twigs and more at Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall in Chiba on January 4 and 5.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.