Journal For Plague Lovers - Critical Reception

Critical Reception

Contrary to worries on the part of Nicky Wire that Journal for Plague Lovers "could seriously damage" the band, and in spite of initial suspicions that the album constituted "a blatant attempt to recapture the glory days of an album released 15 years ago", reviews were ultimately highly favourable. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 85 out of 100 based on eighteen reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim"; it was also received well by fans, achieving an average user score of 9.2 out of 10.

Journal for Plague Lovers scored a rare five-star review in Q magazine, which argued that by "breathing life into Richey Edwards's own last words", the band "crafted not a memorial but a celebration". Retrospectively, the publication named the album the fifth best record of 2009, declaring it one of the band's "finest and most heartfelt moments". John Doran from NME awarded the record eight out of ten, arguing that Journal for Plague Lovers should not be burdened with expectations of becoming "The Holy Bible Mark II" but was simply "an outstanding album in its own right". The magazine named the album the fourteenth best of the year. Uncut, meanwhile, argued that the record brought a "sense of closure" to the legacy of Richey Edwards, describing it as a "brave, compelling record that stands shoulder to shoulder with the Manics' best", and the twenty-third best album of 2009.

Response from news publications was mostly positive, with Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian awarding the album, described as "a passionate rock album that honours the past yet is very much of the present", four stars out of five, and Simon Price of The Independent declared Journal for Plague Lovers "the album of 2009 – hands down, no contest". David Cheal of The Daily Telegraph was critical, however, accusing them of being "a plodding indie-rock trio whose ambition has consistently outstripped their ability" and giving the record only two stars otu of five. Elsewhere, Journal for Plague Lovers earned recognition as a return to form begun on previous album Send Away the Tigers; for example, from Pitchfork's Joe Tangari, who summarized the album thus: "Even if it were the desperate or cynical move some people have claimed it is, there's no denying that purging Edwards' old lyric folder has helped the band create its best album in a decade. Quite simply, they haven't sounded so focused or so purposeful in a long, long time, and they are at their best with a sense of purpose underpinning their music." Likewise, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic remarked that "they were making inroads in this direction on 2007's Send Away the Tigers – for tight, clanking, cantankerous guitars" and commended the album for its sense of hope: "Journal for Plague Lovers winds up being The Holy Bible in reverse: every moment of despair is a reason to keep on living instead of an excuse to pack it all in."