The Cult - Lucifer

When I was a teen metalhead I had a profound love for three Cult albums: the goth rock of Love, the AC/DC rip off Electric and the arena theatrics of Sonic Temple. However, while I still bought their records after these, they seemed to get worse and worse. The low point for me was when I finally saw them live, something I had dreamed of since I was first seduced by their sound. It was about 1995 and all I remember from that night was that Ian Astbury wore a white leather suit and they were uniformly terrible. I don't think I listened to them for about ten years after seeing them live. Still, in recent years I've gone back to those three records and enjoyed them immensely.

I'm not sure where the Cult stand in rock history in this age of revisionism where you have to hate a band you used to love until some hipster says it's ok to admit you like them. To be honest, I don't see much of their influence in the stuff I hear today but I still think they had something special. As such, I was a bit ambivalent for the first couple minutes of Lucifer but once Billy Duffy starts ripping about half way through, my mouth started to salivate with the distant taste of the kool aid I was drinking as a kid. Call it a guilty pleasure or call it just good old fashioned rock or call it good fun but give this about three listens and you might just agree that it kicks arse. They've stopped being proto-grunge and got back to what they're good at: Ian Astbury's rock star psudo-shamanic schtick and Duffy indulging his guitar God riffing excellence. That's the way boys, play to your strengths although Billy Duffy now looks like an aged Dave Beckham (above left) - what the? Anyhow, their new record comes out in April and I'll be curious to hear how it sounds. If you ever liked them, there might be something for you here.

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