THE CULT returns with an atmospheric, almost Gothic rock album where the intensity of the power is introverted and the result is totally outrovert. Far more enigmatic and complex then the days of 'Electric' and "Sonic temple", 2022 THE CULT prefers the guitars aiming at the heart and not the guts. Less ACDC and more JOY DIVISION, they show to bands like H.I.M that those who came from the post punk, new wave scene of the 80s have the magic touch. Less public compliant and more inner demon driven, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy reunite for an album that is dark, melancholic and most of all powerful without the volume knob goes beyond 5.
Being their eleventh album you'd expect a band that plays it safe. On the contrary, THE CULT decide to leave the robe of the hard rock hero backstage and expose their sensitivities in public, not in the form of the classic power ballad but in the form of laid back, distorted blues/gothic hymns like "A Cut Inside", the dark earth colored "Vendetta X", the Billy Idol like "Give Me Mercy", the slow tempo/ temperature riser "Outer Heaven", the detrimental for the faint hearted "Knife Through Butterfly Heart" and the glorious/epic "Under the Midnight Sun". An album that travels you at the dark side of the moon, the African deserts, the gray roads of London and the dark Patagonian shores all in one. The best soundtrack ever written for a Jim Jarmouch movie and never been used. A magnificent, emotional album for those who came from the shadows and still miss the glory of the grey zones without been pessimistic.
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