Welsh outfit Manic Street Preachers have announced the release of their ninth studio LP, Journal For Plague Lovers, set to be released on Saturday 16 May.

The follow-up to 2007’s Send Away The Tigers, the new LP has been   produced by Steve Albini (who recorded Nirvana’s In Utero and PJ Harvey’s Dry). Most importantly, the album will features lyrics left behind by former guitarist Richey Edwards, who went missing back in February 1995 (only to be officially declared deceased last year, with suicide the suspected cause).

Bassist Nicky Wire said the decision to use Richey’s words after all these years was easy. “The brilliance and intelligence of the lyrics dictated that we had to finally use them,” he insists. “The use of language is stunning and topics include The Grande Odalisque by Ingres, Marlon Brando, Giant Haystacks, celebrity, consumerism and dysmorphia, all reiterating the genius and intellect of Richard James Edwards”.  

Tracklisting for Journal For Plague Lovers is: “Peeled Apples”, “Jackie Collins Existential Question Time”, “Me And Stephen Hawking”, “This Joke Sport Severed”, “Journal For Plague Lovers”, “She Bathed Herself In A Bath Of Bleach”, “Facing Page: Top Left”, “Marlon J.D.”, “Doors Closing Slowly”, “All Is Vanity”, “Pretension/Repulsion”, “Virginia State Epileptic Colony”, “William’s Last Words”.