I see the next five albums (including this one) are guitar-based heaviness, which seems to be a theme for this part of 1987 (Summer of Rock?). I quite liked The Cult - I think I had both Love and Sonic Temple on tape that were an occasional pleasure. Those two albums come before and after this one, respectively, and I guess this is something of a transition.
It was a bit disappointing, frankly, borrowing a lot in terms of the sound and songwriting from the likes of Led Zeppelin, or the more recent Eliminator iteration of ZZ Top; very much classic hard rock. There’s even a cover of Steppenwolf’s Born To Be Wild. I guess it ties into my idea that music goes in cicada cycles, in this case going back maybe 14 years to 1973, if not earlier. But to that end, The Cult don’t really do anything new with the sound. While Sonic Temple, to my recollection, felt like classic hard rock but with a bit of a goth twist, this album had very little twist to it, despite Ian Astbury’s distinctive vocals.
It’s fine for what it is, but what it is, is nothing that we didn’t have about fifteen years back. For representing The Cult in a single album, it's a strange choice.
Comments
Post a Comment