cd recensie: The Cult – Born Into This

Six years after their last, critically acclaimed album ‘Beyond Good and Evil’, The Cult release ‘Born Into This’, a return to form with giant size anthems and heavy guitar ’slinging’ by Billy Duffy. Singer Ian Astbury and company try to return to their old stadium sized rock with an album that confusingly has its finest moments in the bonus cd.

The Cult has never been a band for the faint at heart and ‘Born Into This’ is no exception to that rule. It is straightforward rock all the way from opening track ‘Born into This’ up to closing tune ‘Sound of Destruction’, with ballad ‘Holy Mountain’ the only interruption. Not surprisingly, this awfull ballad is the weakest effort on the whole album.

Although the cd hardly offers us new ideas or surprises, it still shows that The Cult is one of the finest rock bands around. Straightforward, no looking back rock-’n-roll is the trick of their trade and they know it like hardly any other band around. The lyrics have always been a weak point and ‘Born Into This’ is no exception to that rule. But for lovers of strong riffs and powerchords mixed with the pursuasive voice of Ian Astbury, this is their 2007-cd to buy.

Strange though that ‘Born Into This’ is sold as a normal, standard package with 9 songs and as a ‘Savage Edition’ with bonus cd. Incredible as it is, it is this bonus cd that shows The Cult in topform. ‘Sounds of Destruction’, already one of the best efforts on the ‘normal’-cd, offers us a classic piece of no holds barred rock . All rough edges have been edited away on the ‘official’-release and it would have been an improvement if The Cult would have left out the editing althogether. ‘War Pony Destroyer’ (I already mentioned the weak lyrics), is another great Cult song, as is the full lenght version of ‘Savages’. Ultimately, the bonus cd saves the day and is one of the strongest rock offerings of 2007.

1minutemanager score

Standard cd:

Bonus cd: