The Holy Bible (album) - Health of Richey Edwards

Health of Richey Edwards

Richey Edwards had had long-term problems with alcohol abuse, depression and self-harm. During 1994, these problems had, according to Wire, "escalated to to a point where everybody got a bit frightened" and Edwards had also begun to suffer from anorexia nervosa. During April and May, when the band played concerts in Thailand and Portugal, Edwards was habitually cutting himself and appeared onstage in Bangkok with self-inflicted wounds across his chest.

He talked openly in the music press about his problems, telling the NME: "When I cut myself I feel so much better. All the little things that might have been annoying me seem so trivial because I'm concentrating on the pain", and "I'm the sort of person who wakes up in the morning and needs to pour a bottle down my throat".

His problems continued and, during the recording of the album, his mental state deteriorated when he learned of the suicide of a close friend from university. In July, he was taken to hospital after severely lacerating himself at home, then transferred to Whitchurch Hospital, an NHS psychiatric facility in Cardiff. His weight had fallen to 6 stone (38 kg).

By the time of the album's release in late August 1994, Edwards was hospitalised at the private Priory Hospital in Roehampton. He rejoined the band to tour during the autumn of 1994. Other band members felt that his drinking was under control at this point, but his eating continued to be a problem and he continued to self-harm. On 1 February 1995, he disappeared and is presumed to have committed suicide.

The Holy Bible has been described by Q as a "graphic, violent torrent of self-lacerating punk fury which infamously details the horrors in Richey Edwards' head".