Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
| Mojo | |
| NME | 9/10 (1994) |
| NME | 10/10 (2004) |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10 |
| PopMatters | 8/10 |
| Q | |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Stylus Magazine | A |
| Uncut | |
When it was released in 1994, the NME saw The Holy Bible as primarily the work of James Dean Bradfield, saying "The Holy Bible isn't elegant, but it is bloody effective". Melody Maker, seeing it as primarily the work of Richey Edwards, described it as "the sound of a group in extremis hurtling towards a private armageddon". Upon its re-release ten years later, the NME described it as "a work of genuine genius".
According to Stylus Magazine: "The Holy Bible is easily one of the best albums of the 90s—ignored by many, but loved intensely by the few who've lived with it over the years It puts everything the Manics have done since to shame, not to mention nearly everything else". Rolling Stone also reviewed the album positively: "even the pall of absence can't cancel out the life-affirming force that hits you with the very first song".
In 2005, the record topped a BBC Newsnight viewers' poll as favourite album of all time. In 2000, it was voted by writers of Melody Maker as the 15th best album of all time. In 2001, it was voted by readers of Q as the 10th best album released during the magazine's lifetime and in 2003 as the 18th greatest album ever. In 2005, Kerrang! placed it 10th in a list of the greatest rock albums ever.
The album peaked at number six on the British albums chart in 1994. This was seen by some as commercially disappointing, however. The record did not chart in mainland Europe or North America, although it reached number 50 in the Japanese chart.
Read more about this topic: The Holy Bible (album)
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