Love (studio album) by The Cult

From pedro1976 07/04/2025 09:07

a fantastic record, shimmering, dark and brooding... Rain and She Sells Sanctuary easy 5*

The sound of when they were transitioning from their goth beginnings to the more rock heavy band they were to become. There's some fantastic pumping tunes on this along with some tracks with haunting melodies and rhythms. A nice mix. This is good. One of my favorite from The Cult

Amazing guitar sound and some killer riffs and solos, coupled with Ian Astbury's great singing voice which complements the music perfectly for me. She Sells Sanctuary is magical, but Nirvana is also an incredible opener and not that far behind. A couple of weak tracks (Love and Brother Wolf Sister Moon) stop it from being a great album for me but it's a good album and has made me want to explore more of the band's discography.

From Jboy56 08/11/2024 07:31

JUst fine

From Brad1770 06/02/2024 22:10

With trademark “Yeah Yeahs” and “You know what I means” this is nice reminder that once upon a time The Cult released music that was actually pretty good and mattered before Ian and Billy disappeared up their own ego

Great piece of alternative 80s music with a bit of goth rock and new wave. Nirvana and Rain are the best tracks here in my opinion.

This feels like a very generic group of songs that lack character and edge in my opinion. Other than Rain and She Sells Sanctuary the rest are pretty skippable and none really grab me or draw me into the music. It feels a bit lifeless at times and like it is lacking quite a bit of energy. The choruses can be quite cringey and sound really dated especially on Revolution and Nirvana. The record feels very drawn out as well with some songs going on for 2 or 3 minutes too long making me just wait for them to end. The atmosphere is pretty consistent but isn't created as effectively as it could be. Overall, a few good singles but this record is pretty weak in my opinion.

From buzzdainer 09/16/2020 22:45

The Cult was one of my favorite rock bands of the eighties, with Ian Astbury's Jim Morrison-like persona and Billy Duffy's scorching work on the guitar leading the charge. The Cult managed to weave together New Wave eighties vocal stylings, the loudness and grittiness of metal, and the New Age mysticism of post-punk, producing on their second full-length album one of the most undeniably great albums of the eighties. The high point here is the mysterious and hard-rocking "She Sells Sanctuary," one of the best, if not also one of the most lyrically impenetrable, songs of its generation. Unfortunately, The Cult never came close to making another album anywhere near this great, and they've gradually settled back into obscurity. But for the brief time that they shined, they sure did shine brightly.

Atmospheric. The album has a consistent tone, and despite all the singles, this is the peak of gothic-version Cult. It is almost a concept album, lots of elemental / weather references, missing people, returning, spirituality. Whereas by the time of the Ceremony album the same lyrics came out as "the same schtick all over again". Astbury doesn't over-sing, whereas in later albums he seems to feel the need to fill every gap.

From stefano 11/25/2017 16:06

A good album, psychedelic oriented hard melodic rock.Nice songs on this and a characteristic atmosphere and guitar sound all over the album.