The Cult — Born Into This

The lead-off title track to The Cult's ninth studio album starts by unfurling a heady rhythm track similar to "The Witch" before a snarling guitar line kicks in and well-placed woo-hoos make you recall the Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil." It's all incredibly familiar, but that's the point. The Cult's greatest successes have always come from cribbing other, slightly better rock moments, and this is no different. There's more from the Stones playbook in the "Undercover Of The Night" lick on "Dirty Little Rockstar" and the intro to "I Assassin" could've been stripped straight from Rush's "2112." The low points come when The Cult try to diversify. Ian Astbury's turn as a crooner in "Holy Mountain" is somewhat unfortunate, but he at least makes up for it by going back to the power rock formula ballad of "Tiger In The Sun." Thankfully, the band mostly stick to hard-nosed and fast-paced and avoid sounding soft. No doubt there are younger, nastier, more vicious and more rocking records and bands out there right now, but for a pack of old-timers still aspiring to bang it out, Born Into This is surprisingly vital.