Hidden City | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 5 February 2016 | |||
Recorded | 2014–2015 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 52:26 | |||
Label | Cooking Vinyl, Dine Alone | |||
Producer | Bob Rock | |||
The Cult chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Hidden City | ||||
|
Hidden City is the tenth studio album by the British rock band The Cult, released on 5 February 2016 through Cooking Vinyl and Dine Alone Records. [2] It is the final part of a trilogy that began with Born into This (2007), [3] and The Cult's first album since their 1994 self-titled album not to feature bassist Chris Wyse; the role was filled by producer Bob Rock and Chris Chaney (Jane's Addiction). It also marks the fifth time Rock had produced a Cult album. [2]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 68/100 [4] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [5] |
Classic Rock | 8/10 [6] |
Drowned in Sound | 7/10 [7] |
Exclaim! | 7/10 [8] |
The Guardian | [9] |
The Irish Times | [10] |
laut.de | [11] |
The National | [12] |
Record Collector | [13] |
The Spill Magazine | [14] |
Hidden City has received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. AllMusic writer Thom Jurek gave the album three out of five stars, saying that it "touches on almost every period in their history." He continued his review, stating that "Billy Duffy's signature boogie-matic post- Electric riffing struts out in front of drummer John Tempesta's hard-swinging snare and thumping tom-tom vamp. Ian Astbury's baritone remains a tremendous thundering force, authoritatively delivering a typically messy lyric swamp of Tibetan Buddhist mysticism and Native American spirituality that warns of coming karmic consequences for exploitative and destructive behavior. Rock's wildly busy, over the top production swirls around it all." [5] Dom Gourlay writing for Drowned in Sound stated, "despite being active on and off for the best part of 33 years, their creative flame still burns brightly if tenth studio album Hidden City is anything to go by... More importantly, Hidden City slides succinctly into the upper echelons of the band's impressive canon, and that is no mean feat." [7] Exclaim!'s Jibril Yassin wrote, "On the Cult's tenth studio album, Hidden City, the long-running British act seem to have hit a new creative streak. Hidden City is the band's third album in recent years, and it's chock full of call-backs to various points in their career..." [8]
Lauren Murphy in her review of The Irish Times commented, "Atmosphere comes at the expense of innovation, but Hidden City is certainly a listenable collection, if perhaps only one for established fans who already know exactly what to expect." [10] A reviewer of The National commented, "The Cult have had their ups and downs through their 30-year career. Hidden City shows the band climbing new heights." [12] A reviewer of The Press wrote, "The Cult's tenth studio album finds them delivering a powerful mix of the brutal and the beautiful, the spiritual and the reflective." [15] Dave Simpson writing for The Guardian mentioned, "The reinventions aren’t as dramatic now, but they’re still not standing still. Their 10th album darts from brooding postpunk to old-fashioned heavy metal and back again. At the heart is still the curious chemistry between gruff-toned, cosmically inclined singer Ian Astbury and his polar opposite, down-to-earth Mancunian guitarist Billy Duffy, the Cult’s own human riff." [9]
Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
---|---|---|---|
Mojo | The 50 Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 15 [16] |
Just prior to this album's release, Damon Fox (keyboards) and Grant Fitzpatrick (bassist) were made full-time members of the band. However, they made no contributions to this album.
Chart (2016) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [17] | 42 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [18] | 69 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [19] | 83 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [20] | 71 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [21] | 36 |
French Albums (SNEP) [22] | 143 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [23] | 51 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [24] | 66 |
Portuguese Albums (AFP) [25] | 41 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [26] | 41 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [27] | 50 |
UK Albums (OCC) [28] | 19 |
US Billboard 200 [29] | 153 |
The Cult are an English rock band formed in Bradford in 1983. Before settling on their current name in January 1984, the band performed under the name Death Cult, which was an evolution of the name of lead vocalist Ian Astbury's previous band Southern Death Cult. They gained a dedicated following in the United Kingdom in the mid-1980s as a post-punk and gothic rock band, with singles such as "She Sells Sanctuary", before breaking into the mainstream in the United States in the late 1980s establishing themselves as a hard rock band with singles such as "Love Removal Machine". Since its initial formation in 1983, the band have had various line-ups; the longest-serving members are Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy, who are also the band's two main songwriters.
Astro-Creep: 2000 – Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head is the fourth and final studio album by American heavy metal band White Zombie, released on April 11, 1995, by Geffen Records. The album proved to be their most commercially successful recording, peaking at number six on the Billboard 200 with the aid of the popular hit singles "More Human than Human" and "Super-Charger Heaven". It was the band's only studio album to feature John Tempesta on drums.
Ian Robert Astbury is an English singer who is the lead vocalist, frontman and a founding member of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury fronted the short-lived Holy Barbarians in 1996, and later from 2002 to 2007 served as the lead singer of Riders on the Storm, a Doors tribute band that also featured Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger from the original Doors. He replaced Rob Tyner during an MC5 reunion in 2003, as well as appearing on several one-off guest vocal performances on other artists' songs.
Dreamtime is the debut studio album by English rock band the Cult. Released on 31 August 1984 by Beggars Banquet Records, it peaked at No. 21 on the UK Albums Chart and was later certified silver by the BPI after having sold 60,000 copies. The first single, "Spiritwalker", peaked at No. 1 on the UK Indie Chart. Dreamtime has subsequently been reissued in roughly 30 countries worldwide.
Ceremony is the fifth studio album by British rock band The Cult, first released on 23 September 1991. The most popular songs on the album are “Wild Hearted Son” and “Heart of Soul”.
Sonic Temple is the fourth studio album by British rock band The Cult, released on 10 April 1989. The album features some of the band's most popular songs, including "Fire Woman" and "Edie ". Sonic Temple was the last album recorded with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart, who left in 1990, and the first to feature session drummer Mickey Curry.
William Henry Duffy is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult.
Beyond Good and Evil is the seventh studio album by English rock band The Cult. Released in 2001, it marked their first new recording in six and a half years. The record debuted at No. 37 on the charts in the United States, No. 22 in Canada, No. 25 in Spain.
Pure Cult is the first of several greatest hits compilations by the British rock band The Cult, released in 1993. The title of the original release was Pure Cult: for Rockers, Ravers, Lovers, and Sinners while the 2000 reissue was titled Pure Cult: The Singles 1984–1995.
Death Cult is the debut four-track EP by the post punk/gothic rock band Death Cult. Released in July 1983 on the Situation Two label, the EP reached No. 2 on the UK Independent Chart. The EP is often erroneously referred to as Brothers Grimm.
Riot City Blues is the eighth studio album by Scottish rock band Primal Scream, released on 5 June 2006 by Columbia Records. It peaked at number 5 on the UK Albums Chart. With this album, the band left behind the electronic elements they had used on their previous albums XTRMNTR (2000) and Evil Heat (2003), returning to more traditional rock and roll. The album features guest appearances from Will Sergeant, Warren Ellis, and Alison Mosshart, and was the last album to feature guitarist Robert "Throb" Young, who departed before the album's UK tour for personal reasons.
The Cult is the sixth studio album from English rock band, The Cult. It was released in October 1994 on Beggars Banquet Records and it is also the band's last album on Sire Records in the US. It is also commonly referred to as the "Black Sheep" record, due to the image of a Manx Loaghtan black sheep on the front cover. The record also features one of the very rare times when Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have shared songwriting credit with anyone: bassist Craig Adams is credited as co-author of "Universal You".
"Fire Woman" is a song by British rock band the Cult, written by singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy. It was the first single released from their fourth studio album, Sonic Temple, and was subsequently featured on all of the Cult's compilation/greatest hits albums, as well as being a steady fixture of the band's live performances.
Born into This is The Cult's eighth studio album, and was released on October 2, 2007 in the US, Canada, South Africa, and Sweden. It was released in Hungary, Denmark, Spain and France on 1 October, and in Finland on the 3rd.
High Octane Cult is a United States and Japan greatest hits compilation featuring every single The Cult had released at the time, with the additional "Beauty's on the Street" and "In the Clouds". It was released by The Cult's then record company Beggars Banquet Records without The Cult's participation. In the years since its release, singer Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have occasionally been vocal about their dislike of this release, with Astbury calling it "sad" on their official website in 2006. Beggars Banquet had planned on using handmade drawings by Ian Astbury for the album's artwork, but when the drawings were lost, the record company subsequently replaced it with less than stellar car photos, and the band photo from The Cult's Sonic Temple record was used in the jacket sleeve, along with a short bio about the band, which guitarist Billy Duffy publicly expressed his disapproval about.
Choice of Weapon is the ninth album by the British rock band The Cult. The album was initially planned for release in 2011, but the release date was pushed back to May 2012. It was initially released on 18 May in Europe, before being released in the UK on 21 May and then in the US the following day. Recording sessions for Choice of Weapon began in March 2011 with Chris Goss, who produced the 2010 Capsule EPs. The sessions took place at studios in New York City, Los Angeles, California, and the "California desert". The album was finished in January 2012. During the recording sessions, Bob Rock teamed up with The Cult for the first time since 2001's Beyond Good and Evil and co-produced Choice of Weapon. Choice of Weapon was named iTunes "Rock Album of the Year" in 2012.
Juan Azulay is a director, media artist, author and designer. As a director and media artist, he is known for his collaboration work with British band The Cult, Icelandic art rock band Sigur Rós, No Wave Legend Lydia Lunch and his directing work alongside Oscar-winner cinematographer Guillermo Navarro. His design work and films have received over a dozen recognized awards in competition and his work has been included in prestigious exhibitions like the 2011 Ville Fertile at Cite de l'Architecture et Patrimoine in Paris and is part of the permanent collection at the MAK in Vienna. Azulay's work is produced through a creative practice called MTTR MGMT, of which he is the creative director.
The Symbol Remains is the fourteenth studio album by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult, released on October 9, 2020.
Under the Midnight Sun is the eleventh studio album by the British rock band The Cult, released on 7 October 2022 through Black Hill Records. The record was produced by Tom Dalgety primarily at Rockfield Studios, where the band had recorded their debut album Dreamtime in 1984.