Album Review – The Cult

the cult hidden city cd

The Cult -‘Hidden City.’ (Cooking Vinyl)

Hidden City is the Cult’s tenth studio album. It’s 32 years since their debut Dreamtime, and in that time Messrs Astbury and Duffy, with a long list of members (one-time drummer Matt Sorum reputedly joined Guns’n’Roses for a bit of peace) have by and large raised a hearty two fingers to the post-punk scene they emerged from, and shown that what they want to do is rock. That attitude may not have endeared them to sections of the British music press, but it’s won them a lot of fans, and certainly at times has seen them, ahem, straddling the camps of goth, metal and indie.

Having originally called time on the band in 1995, the band have now been reformed longer than they were split. This album is the final part of a trilogy that began with Born Into This and continued with Choice Of Weapon. For the most part, it’s a fairly solid Cult album. The three tracks that did the rounds before the release of the album ‘Hinterland,’ ‘Deeply Ordered Chaos’ and ‘Dark Energy’ are among the strongest tracks here. Indeed, ‘Dark Energy’ is a very strong start to the album, the problem is that it perhaps overshadows some of the rest of the album, meaning that some of the record pales a bit by comparison. It’s not an overlong record, although perhaps a couple of tracks left off the record would have made it a bit stronger overall.

Whilst it’s perhaps unlikely to win them lots of new fans, those who have loved The Cult for many years (including this scribe) will find much to enjoy here. And it’s clear that well over a quarter of a century that decades after their emergence, there are many who are still interested in what the band have to say.

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Hidden City is out now on Cooking Vinyl

The return of The Cult

The_Cult_CREDIT_Tim_Cadiente

The Cult photographed by Tim Cadiente

February 5 will see The Cult (Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy above) return with their tenth studio album, Hidden City.

So far, three tracks from the album are available to watch on YouTube, and are available with pre-orders of the album, first single ‘Hinterland,’ ‘Deeply Ordered Chaos’ and ‘Dark Energy.’ You can stream/watch these below.

The album tracklisting is as follows:

1. Dark Energy
2. No Love Lost
3. Dance The Night
4. In Blood
5. Birds Of Paradise
6. Hinterland
7. G O A T
8. Deeply Ordered Chaos
9. Avalanche Of Light
10. Lilies
11. Heathens
12. Sound And Fury

The band are on tour shortly:

February 2016

Thurs 25th BRISTOL, Colston Hall
Fri 26th MANCHESTER, Albert Hall
Sat 27th LONDON, Brixton O2 Academy
Mon 29th NOTTINGHAM, Rock City

March 2016
Tues 1st BIRMINGHAM, HMV Institute
Thurs 3rd ABERDEEN, Music Hall
Fri 4th GLASGOW, Barrowlands
Sat 5th DUBLIN, Vicar Street
Sun 6th BELFAST, Mandela Hall
Tues 8th LEEDS, University
Wed 9th NEWCASTLE, City Hall
Thurs 10th NORWICH, UEA