There couldn’t be less anticipation for a new album by aging rockers The Cult. They passed their prime nearly 15 years ago with a spate of formula-heavy albums that relied on dead simple riffs and even simpler bass grooves, held together by front man Ian Astbury’s fur-hatted posturing and patented “oooh, yeahs.” When it worked, it was brilliant, but it hasn’t worked for a long time now.
Not surprisingly, Born Into This, their eighth studio record, is laughably bad. Bringing a sketchy nu-metal edge to watered-down radio pop-rock, Born Into This sounds like a cross between crappy Lenny Kravitz and new-school INXS. Yes, that is as bad as it sounds. It ain’t Electric. It ain’t Sonic Temple. Hell, it ain’t even Ceremony. It’s just proof that it’s better to burn out than fade away.