Journal For Plague Lovers

I can't begin to explain or explore my long, strange and intimate relationship with the Manic Street Preachers, particularly as it's 8.30am and I'm supposed to be using my office computer for work.

However, I thought it might be worth noting how excited I am at the prospect of new album 'Journal For Plague Lovers', a collection of songs composed using lyrics left to the band by missing lyricist Richey Edwards almost 15 years ago.

There will be no singles released from the album, and therefore it's unlikely to be a commercial 'smash'. However, on the evidence of the only track given airplay so far (album opener 'Peeled Apples' was played by Zane Lowe on Radio 1 last night) it promises to be quite a record: dark, punchy, raw yet somehow slick at the same time.

With several major, major things going on in my life at the moment, I feel like my heart is being pulled in several different directions. Yet a new Manics record gives me a reassuring sense of clarity and purpose - I've invested so much of my personality and identity into the band (an unhealthy amount, I'm happy to concede) that, bizarrely, it's a reminder to me of who I am and what I want to achieve.

I've always felt that, at their best, the Manics simultaneously capture glory and oblivion: I'll treat those two imposters the same.