I've always enjoyed The Cult, 'Electric' being my favourite groove of theirs, whereas 'Sonic Temple' and 'Ceremony' left too much to the imagination, but 'Beyond...' is certainly a turn up for the books, a heavyweight, dirty, densely layered gothic rock album produced by Bob Rock. Duffy's guitars turned up to 10 for this outing, the band firing out twelve bullets that will probably displease a majority of fans who crave that old school swagger and sway, but instead 'Beyond...' will pummel the head, taking the band onto crisper levels, Astbury still at his poetic, waffling best, but this time the wall of sound that emanates is almost too shocking to take in, and the choruses are lost somewhere in the haze of it all, despite the band grinding out several quality tracks, 'The Saint' rises from the ashes of the guitars, the band blowing up the same buildings as C.O.C. and the likes here, but also at once destroying any hope of a chart success by the thickening black smoke they exude. Personal favourites are the stirring 'Take The Power', the subtle 'Nico' which has a whiff of U2/ Simple Minds about it, but don't let that put you off, the crushing 'American Gothic' and anthemic 'True Believers' which could easily pass for Oasis.
The Cult may never get the glory days back, but 'Beyond...' is a record they should be very pleased with but I'm sure it will pass many by without notice.
7.5/10
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