On the Cult's tenth studio album, Hidden City, the long-running British act seem to have hit a new creative streak. Hidden City is the band's third album in recent years, and it's chock full of call-backs to various points in their career; the track "G O A T" recalls the Cult's hard rock period with its frenetic riffing, while "Birds in Paradise" is a stunning display of the post-punk sound they came up in.
One could credit Bob Rock's production work for some of the band's sonic lustre — there's plenty of space for Bill Duffy's guitar riffs to cut through and Ian Astbury's vocals haven't lost their bite, either — yet its runtime of nearly an hour proves to be Hidden City's flaw. The band can only seemingly stretch so far before they start dropping inessential tracks like "Lillies" and "Heathens." Still, the Cult haven't lost any of their spark, and Hidden City's heights get pretty close to the ones they set in their '80s heyday.
(Dine Alone)One could credit Bob Rock's production work for some of the band's sonic lustre — there's plenty of space for Bill Duffy's guitar riffs to cut through and Ian Astbury's vocals haven't lost their bite, either — yet its runtime of nearly an hour proves to be Hidden City's flaw. The band can only seemingly stretch so far before they start dropping inessential tracks like "Lillies" and "Heathens." Still, the Cult haven't lost any of their spark, and Hidden City's heights get pretty close to the ones they set in their '80s heyday.
