Hidden City is vintage Cult: a murky descent into shamanic boogie and gothic psychedelia littered with captivatingly enigmatic references to mysticism and esoterica. Thirty years into the British band’s storied career and Ian Astbury’s booming baritone has only grown more shadowy. On both the stage-setting opener “Dark Energy” and the hammering “No Love Lost,” his voice looms over Billy Duffy’s mesmerizing guitar churn like a brooding tempest. Yet that ominousness then turns to beautiful despair on “Birds of Paradise,” a chilly post-punk ballad harkening back to The Cult’s earliest recordings.
- 1989
- Ian Astbury
- Death Cult
- The Mission
- Faith No More