Review Summary: In it to win it
The Cult is one of those groups that refuse to stand still. From one album to another they try on new forms of musical expression, even though they mostly remain within the hard rock framework. On
Love they were gothic rockers; on
Electric they dabbled in straightforward (but not less effective) hard rock in the vein of
AC/DC; on
Sonic Temple (and its follow-up
Ceremony) they branched into arena rock, on
The Cult they flirted with alternative rock and psychedelia, and the released after the first reunion
Beyond Good and Evil bordered on heavy metal.
Unfortunately, this musical boldness goes hand in hand with artistic irregularity. The band underwent through two breakups and a series of internal conflicts that led to rotation in the line-up. Only vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy remain the constant members and chief ideologists pushing and pulling the band in their vision and ambitions.
Born into This was released in 2007 after the second (and as of today the last) reunion. It was received rather mildly and did not spur much acclaim of both critics and the audience. Let’s try and figure out how correct they were.
The first minutes of the album do puzzle. The eponymous track,
Citizens and
Diamonds feel off, but it is difficult to pinpoint what exactly is the reason for this. There is some kind of uncertainty that catches your ear, as if The Cult is not sure what direction to choose. And it is surprising given the obvious talents of the musicians. As a result, straightforward hard rock of
Born into This and
Diamonds confuses since they do not possess the elements usual to the band’s sound.
The repeated listens provide an answer to what seemed off at first. It is the case of peculiar production. Difficult to say who initiated it but Duffy’s guitars that always were at the front, ended up in the background. As such they became almost like background noise instead of leading the song together with Astbury. Moreover, this approach as if highlighted some of the wear in the vocals. One of the most affected due to this is
Citizens, which with different production choices could have been one of the brightest spots on the album.
And then, like somebody realized its mistake, starting from
Dirty Little Rockstar the guitars begin to crawl back to the forefront. With that the songs get more and more lively sounding like The Cult. After the faltering start
Born into This gains momentum, and doesn’t let up until the very end. Only the softer
Holy Mountain gives us a little breather, and then we are back into action.
Still, this false start results in a somewhat blurred impressions, especially with only 10 tracks on the album. There is also a feeling of certain roughness, a search for a suitable musical form that would satisfy the band, despite the solid cuts presented. Though the tracks The Cult produced a number of hard-hitting cuts, some of them lack ambitiousness inherent to the sound. On the other hand, it is not the worst of the outcomes.
P.S. A curious fact. The extended version of the album also includes two completed tracks
Stand Alone and
War Pony Destroyer. What’s surprising is that both are very solid songs and it is not clear why the band decided not to make them a part of the LP. If they were added instead of
Born into This and
Diamonds, it would have really benefited the album.
