My Bloody Valentine’s long in the making follow-up to 1991’s Loveless is finished. Now how to match those sky-high expectations?

Stereogum just posted the news that My Bloody Valentine have just completed mastering their new album.

I shall repeat that; My Bloody Valentine  just completed mastering their new album. It’ll be their first new album in almost 23 years.

I have to repeat it, to make myself believe it. This was likely never going to happen. 1991’s Loveless is considered a alt-rock masterpiece. It helped define the Shoegaze/Dream-Pop genre, influencing a small yet heady scene of bands like Ride, Curve and Slowdive. While this style of music was never huge in America, the impact of the album was praised by critics and college radio kids.

The album also influenced others outside the shoegaze scene, inspiring  The Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, The Horrors, Silversun Pickups, and the Deftones, to name but a few. Band mastermind Kevin Shield’s glide guitar sounded like nothing else before or since. His combination of tremolo and massive undulating feedback made an alien diffuse sound, hard to describe and even more difficult to duplicate.

After Loveless’s acclaim, band pressure for a follow-up became legendary. They blew through tons of money, nearly bankrupting their record label (Creation). Shields  got massive writer’s block, and eventually they disbanded. He went on to play with Primal Scream, and do some work for the Lost In Translation soundtrack.

After reuniting to much fanfare a couple of years ago, touring and releasing deluxe editions of their earlier works, Shield said they would be making new music. Fans called bullshit. But it seems it’s for real.

But now we must await a release date and the real test begins; how can MBV top or match Loveless? Is it even possible? Will the new album be the indie-rock Chinese Democracy? Or will it be a new classic? We’ll just have to wait and see.

It’s also quite funny that the band announced the news on 12-21-12. Apparently it took the Mayan Apocalypse to light a fire under their asses.

Below is the Amazon link for the Loveless deluxe reissue:

[amazon_image id=”B00811VMQQ” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Loveless: Expanded Remastered Edition[/amazon_image]