Pornography (studio album) by The Cure

A brilliant album, though dark and not so welcoming. It is existential music poetry and a depiction of a nervous breakdown the year the post-punk peaked and evolved into alternative rock. A reminder, that just as the night is at the darkest, there might be colour and joy waiting in the morning.

From HoldenM 09/07/2023 17:31

The Cure's goth trilogy comes to a spectacular close with Pornography, whose cinematic production and haunting songwriting find violent new dimensions to the sounds that the band has been experimenting with up to this point. These songs aren't just hellish and depressing; they're angrier and uglier than we've seen in the spectral and pristine Seventeen Seconds and Faith. Pornography is also the best of this run as a cohesive vision with the strongest run of highlights up to this point. The Cure has conquered goth rock at this point. Where is there to go now except sell out a little?

Based on my preferences for darkness in art, this should be my favorite The Cure record, but I am not sure, the rest of the tracks don't really live up to the potention of One Hundred Years, which is one of the best songs ever recorded, or at least has one of the best riffs ever( it's almost metal, being comparable to Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath).

The opening line of 'It doesn't matter if we all die' tells us exactly what we should expect from the darkest record the Cure ever released. To begin with there is the pure poetry that is Robert Smith's lyrics who seems to be at the lowest point he has ever been at with his words perfectly capturing the way he is feeling. You can almost feel his emotion and melancholy over powering the record entirely and turning it into this dark void which threatens to engulf anyone who listens to it. Not only is it his words that create this environment it is also his voice which is at its dreariest and gloomiest as he guides us through his thoughts. His vocal range and quality in the grand scheme of music goes hugely under appreciated with this performance on here and all his records being phenomenal. The big thing which binds this whole record together is the atmosphere which is created brilliantly and suits the style they are going for perfectly. This is mainly due to the production and instrumentation with the bass and lead guitar being amazing. However, it is the drum work that flies under the radar with just how important it is to the sound. The backbone of the atmosphere is the drum work and without it this record would still be great but it just adds that additional edge that pushes the music to new levels. Overall, this album feels like a last dance for the group and like they are going to succumb to the darkness and pain that is clearly troubling their lives and even though we know that this doesn't happen we still get taken to the very edge of this breaking point and it has created an absolute masterpiece of a record.

From Brandon8 12/23/2022 03:34

Last album of trilogy and it’s another classic. One Hundred Years and The Figurehead are the big songs and I recommend A Strange Day as a deep cut.

This is the darkest The Cure album I've heard so far. It has literally hellish, apocalyptic, depressive vibe and is generally unique.

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From Jboy56 01/22/2022 18:56

One of the most depressing albums ever. Almost operatic in its execution, relentless and dark.

Despite the critical acclaim, I struggled to get in to this album. Four of the tracks are okay (The Hanging Garden, A Short Term Effect, The Figurehead, A Strange Day) but even these don't jump out at me and aren't particularly memorable.

dark, dark pop prog