Resistance Is Futile (album)

Early in 2017, Kieran Evans said that he was not working on the new album with the band, and that he had heard two new songs that sounded "very, very melodious"; the album was expected to be released later in 2017, but then they had to move to a new studio and it got pushed back. Band member Nicky Wire said that this was a very long gap for the group, and if the new songs were not good enough they would not come out. There was much speculation on whether they were releasing a new album at all, with Wire saying that the last two albums might have drained the band in terms of creativity, with the band saying that they were "in a funny place". Despite this, in November 2017 the band announced the new album, their first to be recorded at their new studio near Newport. Described as "widescreen melancholia" and an attempt to recall the sound of Generation Terrorists and Everything Must Go, the band said that the album came together after some "old school hard work", focusing deep on every song so they could be "as best as possible". The themes behind the album are memory and loss, forgotten history, confused reality, and art as a hiding place and inspiration, with the band releasing further information saying that "It's obsessively melodic – in many ways referencing both the naive energy of Generation Terrorists and the orchestral sweep of Everything Must Go. After delay and difficulties getting started, the record has come together really quickly over the last few months through a surge of creativity and some old school hard work." It has also been pointed out by Wire that the album is a kind of a mix of styles, with many songs reflecting on past albums: "It was a bit more pick and mix. We wanted to write twelve songs that... not necessarily twelve singles but twelve songs that gave us a bit of vitality." Songs such as "Hold Me Like a Heaven" trace back to "Everything Must Go", and "Broken Algorithms" "has a bit of 'Sleepflower' in it as well." For the first song on the album, "People Give In", the band released a music video in July on YouTube, as for the song itself it "brings listeners through the trials and tribulations life often brings our way and comments on people's responses to it. It's a hopeful reminder of human resilience". Concerning the title of the album, Wire admitted that it's just a bit of "confusion", saying that: "I just can't navigate myself through the digital hysteria and political insanity of the current times. I'd be lying if I said I felt that absolutism of my youth now, because everything overlaps. That's the idea of the samurai warrior being an analogy for us – everyone else has their iPhones and we've still got our guitars." Bradfield tackled the subject of whether this could be the final album by the band, saying that: "People secretly like to know when things are going to end and for something to have a finite time span, but I instinctively rail against that. I never had the urge to buy a flash car. I never had a drug problem. Instead, I constantly bought guitars. I like to think we push it further than people expect us to. We want to outdo ourselves and people's expectations." On the subject of supporting Guns N' Roses in the summer, Bradfield shared that "I know Duff McKagan and I've played onstage with him before. We keep in touch. He is such a lovely, cool dude. I don't use the word dude much, but for someone like Duff McKagan, it is entirely appropriate. When we were asked to do these dates, we were thrilled to bits." ==Release==

Resistance Is Futile was released on 13 April 2018 in standard CD format, deluxe CD, cassette and vinyl. The album sold around 24.000 copies in the first week, entering the UK Albums Chart at number 2, the record spent a total of 8 weeks in the UK Top 100. and Vinyl. The album was able to peak at number 5 in the Irish charts, at number 1 in the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts, and at number 1 in the New Zealand Heatseeker Albums. and Japan. The band also announced a UK tour to promote the album. During April and May 2018 the band played in Newcastle, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Llandudno, Leeds, London and Cardiff. On 8 January 2018, the official tracklisting was announced and that the album could be pre-ordered digitally via iTunes, HMV, Google Play and Amazon in standard and deluxe formats from "12.01am local time, Tuesday 9th January". Singles The first single, "International Blue", was released as a download on 8 December 2017. About it the band said that there was a certain naive energy and "widescreen melancholia" on the song that is reflected through the whole album, comparing it to "Motorcycle Emptiness". Furthermore, the album focused on, according to Wire, "[...] things that make your life feel a little bit better. Rather than my internalised misery, I tried to put a sense of optimism into the lyrics by writing about things that we find really inspiring", taking inspiration from David Bowie and seen as almost an escape and a wave of optimism, just like the previous album was described. The second single, "Distant Colours", was released as a download on 16 February 2018. The lyrics were written by James Dean Bradfield, rather than Nicky Wire, and inspired by disenchantment and Nye Bevan's old Labour. He said: "Musically, the verse is downcast and melancholic and the chorus is an explosion of disillusionment and tears." The third single, "Dylan & Caitlin", was released as a download on 9 March 2018. It is a duet between the band and The Anchoress, and stands out as one of a few times Nicky Wire wrote a lyric about something outside of himself. Wire said: "[...] I wanted to write something a bit character-based, which isn't really me. The extreme love and extreme hate that can take part in a relationship from both sides. You know us as a band, we've always felt a duty to pass on things that we think are more interesting than we are." The fourth single, "Liverpool Revisited", was released as a download on 6 April 2018. It is about a day in the city of Liverpool. Nicky added that: "It was on the Everything Must Go (anniversary) tour and I got up really early at sunrise to walk around Liverpool, polaroid camera in hand on a balmy day. It sounds clichéd I know, but Liverpool in the sun does take on a hypnotic quality, with the Mersey and the stone." Wire said that the song was inspired musically by David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes, something that the band wanted to write about, and Nicky thinks that this the closest that the band is going to get, sharing also that lyrics were informed by the work of Philip Larkin. The sixth and last single, "People Give In", was released as a single on 27 July 2018. Wire described the lyrics as "One of the most open lyrics I've ever written. I wouldn't exactly call it a rallying cry, it's more about the idea that at least 80% of life is just really mundane so why don't we all just lower our expectations and try to get to the other side as painlessly as possible." ==Critical reception==

Resistance Is Futile received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 73 based on 19 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". As for Mojo magazine, they gave a positive review of the album, stating that: "Beneath the surface sheen, Resistance Is Futile is a complex, multi-layer work", awarding it 4 out of 5 stars. From musicOMH, John Murphy gave a very positive review of the album, saying that "For those who thought that the life of Manic Street Preachers was winding down to a conclusion, Resistance Is Futile is a fine riposte." He finished by stating that the Manics are "one of the country's most treasured bands". == Track listing ==

Manic Street Preachers • James Dean Bradfield – lead vocals, lead and acoustic guitar, keyboards, string arrangements • Sean Moore – drums, soundscapes, machines, sequencers, percussion, keyboards • Nicky Wire – bass guitar, baritone guitar, vocals Additional musicians • The Anchoress – co-lead vocals (5), backing vocals (4) • Dave Eringa – keyboards (1, 2, 3, 6, 8 & 10) • Gavin Fitzjohn – keyboards (4, 8 & 11), string arrangement (1), backing vocals (8) • Nick Nasmyth – keyboards (5 & 7) • Loz Williams – keyboards (11 & 12) • Vulcan String Quartet – strings (1, 4 & 5) Technical personnel • Dave Eringa – production (all tracks), engineering; mixing (3, 8, 9 & 12) • Gavin Fitzjohn – production (8), additional production (4 & 7) • Guy Massey – production, engineering and mixing (11) • Loz Williams – engineering • Chris Lord-Alge – mixing (1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 10) • Tim Young – mastering • World History Archive/Alamy – cover photograph • Alex Lake – band photography • Kieran Evans – additional images • Nicky Wire – artwork concept • Black Finch Design – design ==Charts==