''Hidden City'' is the tenth studio album by the British

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

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 on 5 February 2016 through

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England, founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner and chairman ...

and

Dine Alone Records Dine Alone Records is a Canadian and American independent record label, founded in St. Catharines and Toronto by Joel Carriere. The label is now based in Toronto, Nashville and Los Angeles. History Dine Alone was born out of founder Joel Ca ...

. It is the final part of a trilogy that began with ''

Born into This ''Born into This'' is The Cult's eighth studio album, and was released on 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. Background and recor ...

'' (2007), and The Cult's first album since their 1994 self-titled album not to feature bassist

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 ...

; the role was filled by producer

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 ...

and

Chris Chaney Christopher A. Chaney (born June 14, 1970) is an American musician. He is best known as the former bassist of alternative rock band Jane's Addiction, and as a member of Alanis Morissette's touring and recording band for six years. Chaney was a ...

(

Jane's Addiction Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...

). It also marks the fifth time Rock had produced a Cult album.

Reception

''Hidden City'' has received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics.

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

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 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 g ...

's signature boogie-matic post-''

Electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

'' riffing struts out in front of drummer

John Tempesta John Tempesta (born September 26, 1964) is an American drummer known for his work in hard rock and heavy metal. He has been a member of the Cult since 2006. Biography Previously, Tempesta played with several bands including Exodus, Testament ...

's hard-swinging snare and thumping tom-tom vamp.

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 ...

'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 Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

's wildly busy, over the top production swirls around it all." Dom Gourlay writing for ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'' 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." ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

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..." Lauren Murphy in her review of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' 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." 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." A reviewer of ''

The Press ''The Press'' is a daily newspaper published in Christchurch, New Zealand owned by media business Stuff Ltd. First published in 1861, the newspaper is the largest circulating daily in the South Island and publishes Monday to Saturday. One comm ...

'' wrote, "The Cult's tenth studio album finds them delivering a powerful mix of the brutal and the beautiful, the spiritual and the reflective." Dave Simpson writing for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' 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."

Accolades

Track listing

# "Dark Energy" - 4:28 # "No Love Lost" - 3:13 # "Dance the Night" - 4:15 # "In Blood" - 4:48 # "Birds of Paradise" - 6:26 # "Hinterland" - 5:06 # "G O A T" - 3:18 # "Deeply Ordered Chaos" - 4:32 # "Avalanche of Light" - 4:31 # "Lilies" - 4:16 # "Heathens" - 3:39 # "Sound and Fury" - 3:54

Music videos

# "G O A T" - Dir:

Juan Azulay Juan Azulay (born February 29, 1972) 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 Lunc ...

# "Hinterland" - Dir:

# "Deeply Ordered Chaos" - Dir:

# "Dark Energy" - Dir:

Personnel

;The Cult *

– vocals, tambourine, etc. & additional guitars *

– guitars *

– drums ;Additional personnel *

- bass *

- bass on "Dance the Night", "Birds of Paradise" and "Deeply Ordered Chaos", and additional guitars *

Jamie Muhoberac Benjamin Edward "Jamie" Muhoberac is an American session keyboardist with numerous credits. He is best known for his work with Seal and Was (Not Was). Biography Muhoberac has worked with acts including The All-American Rejects, Fleetwood Mac, Bob ...

- piano, keyboards * Dan Chase - additional drums on "Sound and Fury" ;Technical *

Ted Jensen Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''. Biography Ted ...

- mastering engineer

Note

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.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hidden City Albums produced by Bob Rock The Cult albums 2016 albums Cooking Vinyl albums Dine Alone Records albums