Manic Street Preachers Critical Thinking
Manic Street Preachers's Critical Thinking opens with a jolt: the abrasive title track “Critical Thinking” pins contemporary wellness culture under a Gang of Four-style riff, setting the tone for an album that privileges refinement over reinvention. Across the record the band leans into themes of nostalgia, renewal, political critique and reflection on ageing, delivering songs that feel lived-in rather than experimental.
Professional reviews coalesce around a generally favorable view: across 1 professional review the record earned an 80/100 consensus score, with critics noting that tracks like “Critical Thinking”, “Decline & Fall” and “Brushstrokes of Reunion” emerge as the best songs on the album. Reviewers consistently praise the Manics' knack for marrying urgent political observations with melodic ambition, pointing to galloping piano flourishes and punchy post-punk arrangements that underline the band’s continued strengths. Even when the collection stops short of a radical departure, songs such as “Dear Stephen” add moments of tenderness that deepen the album's reflective core.
Taken together the critical consensus suggests Critical Thinking is a confident, thoughtful entry in the Manic Street Preachers catalog - a record that confirms their abilities and offers several standout tracks worth seeking out. Scroll down for the full review and track-by-track notes that expand on the album's political bite and elegiac turns.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
Critical Thinking
1 mention
"the abrasive opening title track is something of a curveball"— The Observer (UK)
Brushstrokes of Reunion
1 mention
"Brushstrokes of Reunion deploying the same galloping Abba piano flourishes"— The Observer (UK)
Decline & Fall
1 mention
"Decline and Fall ... deploying the same galloping Abba piano flourishes"— The Observer (UK)
the abrasive opening title track is something of a curveball
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Critical Thinking
Decline & Fall
Brushstrokes of Reunion
Hiding in Plain Sight
People Ruin Paintings
Dear Stephen
Being Baptised
My Brave Friend
Out Of Time Revival
Deleted Scenes
Late Day Peaks
OneManMilitia
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 10 critics who reviewed this album
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Critic's Take
Manic Street Preachers have returned with Critical Thinking, an album that mostly trades on the band’s familiar strengths rather than radical reinvention. The abrasive title track and opener, “Critical Thinking”, jolts the record into life with Nicky Wire skewering mindfulness and wellness over a Gang of Four-influenced backdrop, making it one of the best tracks on Critical Thinking. Elsewhere, “Decline and Fall” and “Brushstrokes of Reunion” deploy those galloping, ABBA-like piano flourishes to great effect, marking them as standout songs among the best tracks on the album. The result is a reflective, thought-provoking set that finds the Manics ageing gracefully rather than reinventing themselves.
Key Points
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The title track is best because its abrasive, curveball opening and sharp social skewering give the album immediate bite.
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The album’s core strength is trading on familiar Manics’ signifiers—galloping piano, 1980s jangle—and ageing into reflective, thought-provoking songs.
Themes
