Search - :: Beyond Good and Evil

Aaron S. from VANCOUVER, WA
Reviewed on 5/28/2011...

Very substantial album by The Cult. Ian Astbury has matured very much as a performer as shown by his solid lyrics and vocal phrasing on this release. Awesome guitar work by Billy, well-built, murderous 'drop D' riffs. And perhaps Matt Sorum's finest drumming. Get this under-appreciated gem now!

Only marred by the brick-walled mastering by the infamous Stewart Whitmore and Stephen Marcussen at Marcussen Mastering.

Shredder's delight.

Stephen Caratzas | Brooklyn, New York | 09/28/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In 'Beyond Good and Evil' The Cult (Ian Astbury, Billy Duffy and Matt Sorum) have crafted an album that goes way beyond most normally accepted notions of what the term "hard rocking" denotes. This thing roars! It is virtually impossible to play this disc - even at a modest volume - without having your ears ring. It is that robustly recorded.Employing some of the most savagely distorted guitar sounds of his impressive career, Billy Duffy appears to be on a mission of sonic destruction - and he isn?t taking prisoners. The opening riff to "Rise" suggests an angel dust-crazed Yeti ripping a metal garbage can to shreds. Some enterprising electronics manufacturer should immediately begin working on a Billy Duffy brand fuzz box that attempts to replicate this mayhem - it would sell in the zillions.Vocalist Ian Astbury delivers his rage-fueled lyrics with thrilling gusto. Get a load of the song titles, this guy is [mad]...: "War (The Process)", "Take the Power", "American Gothic", "My Bridges Burn", just to name a few. He makes his discontent abundantly clear about three words into the album. 'Beyond Good and Evil' indeed - we are moving into uncharted dimensions where words like "good" and "evil" become meaningless.Some diehard fans may not find this to be among the band's best work, but if you're looking for maximum crunch with a good deal of substance behind it, you could do a lot worse. My only complaint: at 51 minutes, 'Beyond Good and Evil' is way too short."

They're ba-ack!

S. Gustafson | New Albany, IN USA | 06/26/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Picked this one up on a lark. Didn't even know it was coming, but it made me curious. You know that feeling of mixed excitement and trepidation you get, finding a new release from a band you adored way back when, but that seemed to drop out of sight? That was what I felt -before- I listened to it.

There is fortunately little sign of -change- in this record, whose songs and thunderous Bob Rock production would be at home in the -Sonic Temple- and -Electric- period. Billy Duffy's guitar is like a great basalt obelisk dislodged from the heavens by some cosmic accident, to fall to earth, and his riffing propels each song forward forcefully.

Ian Astbury never bores. His songs are consistently soaked with cosmic thoughts. You get another ballad for a departed Warhol-set lady [-Nico-], some global-tribal politics [-War (The Process)-], and plenty of material that seems to indicate that, unlike -some- dark hard rock bands from the same era that I could name, he has not forgotten who his most loyal fans are. [-American Gothic-, -Ashes and Ghosts-, -Speed of Light (Black California)-] Some reviews I have read --- though not most here --- find this pretentious, but I am always glad to see a hard rocking band address concerns larger than just sex.

So forget whatever reservations you might have had. This is more classic Cult. You will not be disappointed."