''Beyond Good and Evil'' is the seventh studio album by English rock band

The Cult The Cult are an English rock band formed in 1983 in Bradford, West Yorkshire. 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 singer Ian Astbury's ...

. 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. Only one single, "Rise", was officially released and had a music video. The songs "Breathe" and "True Believers" were released as promotional singles but not as official singles. This album marked the return of Matt Sorum as The Cult's drummer. Although Sorum had previously toured with the band on the Sonic Temple tour in 1989 and 1990, this was the first time that he had recorded a studio album with the band. It is the only Cult album to feature Sorum.

Background and writing

The title of the record is a reference to

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

's 1886 book of the same title, and it briefly had the mock working title of ''Bring Me the Head of

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He is the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in which he is the lead singer, guitarist, and principal songwriter. Prior to forming Foo Fighters, he was the drummer of gru ...

'', referencing the frontman of

Foo Fighters Foo Fighters are an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Foo Fighters was initially formed as a one-man project by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl. Following the success of the eponymous debut album, Grohl (lead vocals, guitar) re ...

, and also the former drummer of

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

. In 2006, singer

Ian Astbury Ian Robert Astbury (born 14 May 1962) is an English singer, best known as a founding member, lead vocalist and frontman of the rock band the Cult. During various hiatuses from the Cult, Astbury has fronted the short-lived Holy Barbarians in 1 ...

claimed via the band's website that his preferred choice for the record's title was ''Demon Process''. "My Bridges Burn" was originally titled "Save Me"; "Breathe" originally had the slightly longer title "Breathe (You Bastard)" along with an overdub of keyboards after the guitar solo which was later removed; and "Speed of Light" went through several different titles: originally titled "Black California", then "Who Plays the Devil" before the band decided on its final title. There are several CD acetates of early recordings of the songs later featured on ''Beyond Good and Evil''. A

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...

of demo versions of the songs leaked out, unofficially referred to as ''Unmixed, Unmastered, Unsequenced'', and a bootleg CD-R of later, but still unfinished versions of the songs are also in circulation.

Track listing

All songs written by

and

Billy Duffy William Henry Duffy (born 12 May 1961) is an English rock musician, best known as the guitarist of the band The Cult. Early life Duffy was born and grew up in Manchester. He has Irish and Jewish heritage and ancestry. He began playing the guit ...

, except where noted. # "War (The Process)" - 4:12 # "The Saint" - 3:36 # "Rise" - 3:39 # "Take the Power" - 3:55 # "Breathe" (Astbury, Duffy, Mick Jones,

Marti Frederiksen Martin Harold "Marti" Frederiksen (born July 1, 1962) is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. He writes and produces music primarily in rock, country, and pop. He is best known for his work with many artists and bands incl ...

) - 4:59 # "Nico" - 4:49 # "American Gothic" - 3:56 # "Ashes and Ghosts" (Astbury, Duffy,

Bob Rock Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...

) - 5:00 # "Shape the Sky" - 3:29 # "Speed of Light" (Astbury, Duffy, Rock) - 4:22 # "True Believers" - 5:07 # "My Bridges Burn" - 3:51 Different bonus tracks were added in certain regions: 13. "Libertine" (Bonus track - in Australia and Japan)

Other versions

* In mainland China, this record was issued in a cardboard foldout sleeve. * In Taiwan, it was released with an

obi strip An is a strip of paper looped around a book or other product. This extends the term ''obi'' used for Japanese clothing; it is written with the same ''kanji''. It is also referred to as a , or more narrowly as . Obi strips are most commonly foun ...

. * "Nico" was incorrectly listed as "Niko" on some German CD pressings. * In Australia, a six-song demo disc was given to record company executives. * A promotional disc was released in a slimline plastic CD case in Germany, with a completely different front cover.

Personnel

- vocals *

- guitar *

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. S ...

- drums, percussion *

Martyn LeNoble Martyn LeNoble ( nl, Martijn LeNoble; born 14 April 1969) is a Dutch bassist and a founding member of the alternative rock band Porno for Pyros. He started his musical career by playing bass in a Dutch punk rock band when he was 14. In 1989, h ...

- bass on tracks 5, 10, 11, 12 *

Chris Wyse Chris Wyse (born 15 July 1969) is an American bassist and vocalist. He is best known for his performances with Hollywood Vampires, Ace Frehley, The Cult and Ozzy Osbourne. He is the vocalist and bassist for Owl, a band he founded in 2007. Early ...

- bass on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 13

References

{{Authority control The Cult albums 2001 albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Bob Rock