{"id":7297,"date":"2012-05-22T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-22T00:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=7297"},"modified":"2013-06-01T14:18:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T14:18:07","slug":"album-review-the-cult-choice-of-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-the-cult-choice-of-weapon\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CULT – Choice Of Weapon (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE CULT
Choice Of Weapon<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nCooking Vinyl (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I have to say, that ever since the Americanized gloss of Sonic Temple<\/em> (1989) I\u2019ve been disillusioned with The Cult. To say they\u2019ve been inconsistent is an understatement. The last time I felt entertained by the band was on the heavier Beyond Good And Evil<\/em> platter in 2001, and so the release of Choice Of Weapon<\/em> didn\u2019t exactly have me scrambling to the shop to purchase it. However, after a few spins, I can safely say this is The Cult\u2019s best album for a long while. Choice Of Weapon<\/em> is a sonic, almost glam-orientated rocker, that at times mixes the stardust riffs of T-Rex along with that typical Cult swagger we came to love all those gothic years ago. Of course, Ian Astbury can\u2019t refrain from a few of those moodier rambles, such as \u2018Elemental Light\u2019, but in general the tracks are kept short and sweet.<\/p>\n

Opener \u2018Honey From A Knife\u2019 snaps at the heels with Billy Duffy\u2019s cool licks and those almost cheerleader style chants, while \u2018For The Animals\u2019 and \u2018The Wolf\u2019 could easily be something off one of the UK band\u2019s early classics, harbouring killer riffs, crashing drums \u2013 courtesy of John Tempesta (ex-Testament \/ Exodus \/ Rob Zombie) \u2013 and Astbury, thankfully, is on dark form.<\/p>\n

But the glam comes to the fore on the spaced out \u2018Life>Death\u2019 which is part cosmic David Bowie, part James Bond-style theme, featuring a mournful piano. It\u2019ll be interesting to hear how songs of this ilk shape up live, but on wax they exist as moody, melodic mini-classics, especially the vibrant \u2018Lucifer\u2019 with its Marc Bolan \u2018Children Of The Revolution\u2019 riff steal. This is the pivotal point of the album; a solid, metallic groove blessed with soul and strut and that distinctive Astbury rasp.<\/p>\n

The same could also be said for the galloping \u2018Amnesia\u2019, which I keep expecting to break into \u2018Born To Be Wild\u2019 at any moment. Mind you, the album isn\u2019t just a collection of glam stompers. \u2018Wilderness Now\u2019 is a pensive and sombre track that never rears its head above a plod.<\/p>\n

But most of the time the band are keen to rock, keeping the riffs thick and the drums pounding. \u2018A Pale Horse\u2019 has a southern 70s groove and reaches a hip-shaking crescendo as Astbury bellows \u201cBehold a grey horse, death rides a pale horse\u201d<\/em> amidst the cool bass line and, again, those swaggering riffs.<\/p>\n

Album closer \u2018This Night In The City Forever\u2019 is a slow build, reminding me of Velvet Underground, especially the vocal tone, before slipping into a brooding dreamscape. It\u2019s a shame the track takes some three or so minutes to get going, and it wouldn\u2019t have been my choice as album closer, but this is a minor flaw, because as long as the guys can keep producing songs like the shuffling bonus track \u2018Every Man And Woman Is A Star\u2019, then I see no reason for The Cult to become simply a nostalgia act.<\/p>\n

Choice Of Weapon<\/em> is a solid rock \u2019n\u2019 roll record that boasts a handful of top-notch tracks. Those who fail to be moved by a cut like \u2018Lucifer\u2019 are clearly in the wrong place. The Cult isn\u2019t firing blanks just yet.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE CULTChoice Of Weapon Cooking Vinyl (2012)Rating: 8\/10 I have to say, that ever since the Americanized gloss of Sonic Temple (1989) I\u2019ve been disillusioned with The Cult. To say they\u2019ve been inconsistent is an understatement. The last time I felt entertained by the band was on the heavier Beyond Good And Evil platter in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,388],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-the-cult"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7297"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12007,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7297\/revisions\/12007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}