The Cult/Hidden City(2016)

Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy along with producer Bob Rock(who has produced 5 Cult albums) have once again  changed up the culture and landscape that is The Cults sound!

No two Cult albums sound a like. Starting with 1985s trippy ‘Love’ album followed by one of my all time favourite Rippin n Snortin street albums 1987s ‘Electric’ (Wolf Hat Included). The Cult early on decided to go down different avenues per release! While some fans may like some albums more than others you can’t deny the fact that The Cult just keep trucking along!

This is a total headphones album! Listen to it and hear Duffys Rhythm guitar work. We all know he can play the leads but man his rhythm playing here is top-notch!

One of the few bands you won’t find me doing any “Filler” reviews on!

2016 and along with Ian (Vocals) Billy(King Of Cult Guitar Riffs) John Tempesta (Drums) are joined by new bass guy Chris Chaney.(Bob Rock even plays bass on a few tracks as well) I almost forgot there’s a ton of tambourine on this album! Giddy Up!

Yah Yuh!

DARK ENERGY-The Cult rock right out of the gate with the drums,bass and guitar leading the charge. It takes all of 20 seconds to hear that Bob Rock is letting The Cult loose sonically  and keeping the sound a little more raw John drives this song with his shuffle and groove on the drums. Billy plays a garage like sounding guitar that fuses well with Rocks mix. Ian struts the vocal and delivers a real good leadoff track. Cue up Wolfchild slamming the tambourine in the background! Yah Yah!

NO LOVE LOST-John lays down tribal like drum patterns and along with the bass this leads  into Astbury County and Ian here I will tell you all right now that this is some of Ian’s best singing ever on a Cult album. His voice still has that raunch but the way Rock mixed his vocals it sounds total live like!

DANCE THE NIGHT-Cult like single action here. Why not they deserve it. The chorus harkens back to yesteryear for the Cult with a real catchy chorus “Dance The Night …On The Boulevard” Smooth as silk. Great tune!

IN BLOOD-Duffy plays a real cool swagger of rock riff here. It’s got a real chill vibe and Ian sings about seduction and the opening line sets the tone “I Fell In A Bathroom Stall,5Am On A Tiled Floor,Twisted Night,The Hooker Smiles,When Does It End,When Will It End” the song builds up into a fantastic pre chorus into the chorus and Billy throws down a real short yet so catchy guitar solo! The guy is so friggin good!

BIRDS OF PARADISE-slow tempo  that features the keyboards driving  the song along with Billy’s guitar. This album features a ton of keyboard induced sonics! I’m totally ok with it as The Cult  know how to do it right! They use the keys to enhance their sound and tread lightly  not to override Master Duffys a Guitar Hero-ness! B.O.P is a great slick track a different vibe and let me put it this way to you all Cult fanatics! There is no Peace Dog in sight! In its place is a grown up Cult, a wiser Ian but please dude I could always go for a great rip n roar of the tambourine of Peace Dog! In other words The  Cult have grown up! I have not! Ha!

HINTERLAND-Wowzers this is a classic track! Gotta love the fuzzy bass that opens this track and what an awesome smack a roo of percussion throughout this track! It’s solid Cult and man this album is just blowing me away. Just a few months ago I had no idea there was a Cult album finished and  now a monster is unleashed! Astbury on this album lays down some real good vocals while Duffy keeps his solos short and simple and they are so good! He’s the King Of Riffs N Rolls! Destroy The Destroyer! Ok kids watch the video posted!

G O A T-Greatest Of All Time! Yep! The opening riff is right off the Electric album and before to long John(drummer) lays down the groove to the tune.  Duffy is in full solo jam mode(this song had to have been constructed from jams!) Not too fast of a pace but still a decent kick. This song is total Jammin Cult! WolfChild hollers “Greatest Of All Time ” during the chorus while John smashes the cymbals hard! Awesome tune! Love the throwback sound on this one! Greatest Of All Time Indeed!

DEEPLY ORDERED CHAOS- This song is Zep tinged with short blasts of synths and it carries the song through as Ian goes about almost on the unrest and violence  in some European countries! Well that’s how I hear it anyways! It’s a good song and shows that even though all Cult Songs can’t be like off the rails hard rock like the Electric album it’s ok as Ian N Billy are in there early 50s they can still kick your ass in a chill kind of way! That’s saying something!

AVALANCHE OF LIGHT-Whoah! This song is just plain brilliant! This song needs to be heard and if The Cult don’t release this as a single they need to hire me as there P.R Guy! Avalanche Of Light is a GEM! Love the rhythm guitar crunch on the left side while the on the right side it’s almost lead like guitar that goes on for the length of the song. The beginnings of this song lead you to believe that the song may go one way but it goes into another gear and it just does not get better than this! Cult Rock 2016 is alive and well friends!

LILIES-Piano and some slick John drumming propel this song into another kind of tempo. Not what you would expect from the Cult! I posted on FaceCrack a pic of the album and said “Don’t expect the expected!” This track is one of them!

HEATHENS-Cult Rock kicking you hard up the arse! Just as you may thought Ian and Billy were gonna slow down…Nope they crank up there Marshall amps and let loose with a real rock of a track! Dirty Heathens….Dirty Heathens bellows Wolfchild adding on the way out of the door “Hard Rain A Fall” yup that just about sums it up!

SOUND AND FURY-By the title you would think this was gonna be an end of the album Cult Stomper! Nope it is not! It’s got piano a lot of it and Ian holds up his end and delivers a real smooth like vocal. Even though it’s piano driven you gotta hand it to the Wolfchild when he chirps “Killing Floor” at the start of the track! Yup Ian may be Chillin but he will still kick your ass with his vocabulary even though sometimes I have no idea what he’s going on about!

FINAL YAMMER-When I first read back last November that The Cult was releasing a new studio album Hidden City I was like ????? How and when did the Cult record an album and keep a lid on it? Impressive for the fact that in this day and age guys like Mike Ladano did not even know until I told him! So there Ya go!

Ian,Billy,John,Chris and Bob Rock step up on what is an even better album than Choice Of Weapon and it proves that without a doubt Cult Rock is alive and well in 2016!

Thanks Cult for stepping up and delivering a full 12 song album meal deal!

Fuckin Love These Guys!