samo714's Blog

The Cult is back with a new album entitled "Born into this". As most Cult fans know, this album sounds nothing like their past work. The Cult is known to always be evolving as time goes by.  They first started out as a punk/Goth band, then turned into a hard rock Americana band by their “Electric” album, then became more of a glam/arena rock band, then changed to an alternative rock band, and on their last album ended up going to a more heavy metal/ hard rock sound. This time the change seems more of a comfortable one for the band. It’s not as harsh as with the last album “Beyond Good and Evil”. Their vibe is very similar to their “Electric” album. It’s raw, it’s stripped down, and it’s energetic. It’s The Cult going back to their roots and rediscovering themselves as artist.  I don’t think any of the songs stick out, since the whole album is very solid. It’s an album that I can listen to over and over again easily without having to skip a track. It’s that good.

The album starts off fast and furious with “Born Into This”, and follows up the energy from that song to the 4th track of the album “Dirty Little Rockstar” hits.  Then “Holy Mountain” brings the album to a mellow, surreal pace.

Ian Astbury - “Holy Mountain' is probably the pinnacle for me ... it involves my girlfriend and (a time) in life where I felt kind of like, I won't say washed up, but I definitely felt drained. I felt frustrated and I felt undynamic and went on this journey and ended up at Everest. So that song is literally the zenith, the high point, and everything sort of flows down from that song."

“I Assassin” brings the mood from “Holy Mountain” to a literal stop. Almost like waking up from a dream, and getting smacked in the face with reality. It follows up with the more uplifting “illuminated” and brings it back to a darker overtone with “Tiger In The Sun” and “Savages”.  The album ends with “Sound of Destruction”, a heavy bass rocker, that kind of makes you forget the darker overtones, and reminds you just to rock out.

So what does the lead singer hope that the listener get’s from the album? "A life-changing experience. Spiritual upliftment. Some kind of an awakening, hopefully. I think one thing about this record is, it has all the ingredients in it. The teeth and claws haven't been taken out of it. It's not a nice little domesticated indie house pet. A lot of stuff was written in wild places: (while) denizens of Paris, (while) stuck in lodges in the Himalayas and (during) white-out snow storms."

There is also a special edition version of the cd, with a bonus disk that contains 5 tracks. I think it’s more for a die hard fan, rather then a new listener. “Stand Alone” and “War Pony Destroyer” are two great tracks that I don’t understand why they weren’t put in the original album.  The rest are demos and a full version of “Savages”. They are great demos, not a whole lot different then the originals, but they are great to listen too.  “Born Into This” is a great short, in your face album. It’s worth checking out and great album for new comers to the band to learn what this band is all about, and find out why they have been able to exist till this day. I give it a 4 ½ out of 5 stars. I think the price of 25 bucks for 5 extra tracks and only 2 being originals isn’t a great buy, but the album delivers in every track and translate beautifully live. I can’t find a track that isn’t good on this album. Check out the band live on tour. You don't want to miss out. Belive me, i have seen them live on their current tour.

1. Born Into This 2. Citizens 3. Diamonds 4. Dirty Little Rockstar 5. Holy Mountain 6. I Assassin 7. Illuminated 8. Tiger In The Sun 9. Savages 10. Sound of Destruction

Bonus disk: 1. Stand Alone 2. War Pony Destroyer 3. I Assassin (demo) 4. Sound of Destruction (demo) 5. Savages (full length version)