Journal for Plague Lovers Journal for Plague Lovers Journal for Plague Lovers is the ninth studio album by Welsh alternative rock band Manic Street Preachers, released in May 2009 by record label Columbia. Recorded between October 2008 and February 2009 and produced by Steve Albini and Dave Eringa, it features exclusively posthumous-published lyrics by Richey Edwards, who disappeared on 1 February 1995 and was presumed deceased in 2008. It is the only Manic Street Preachers album in which the lyrics for every song were written solely by Edwards. The album received a very positive critical reception and debuted at number 3 in the UK
Manic Street Preachers contains the last song the band worked on with Edwards. The album received a far more positive reception from fans than the "Forever Delayed" greatest hits album, which was heavily criticised for favouring the band's more commercially successful singles. The only recurring criticism of "Lipstick Traces" was the exclusion of the fan favourite "Patrick Bateman", from the "La Tristesse Durera (Scream to a Sigh)" single. The band explained that it was excluded mainly because it was almost seven minutes long and simply would not fit on the album." The band's seventh studio album, "Lifeblood", was released on 1 November 2004