Under the Midnight Sun
Studio album by
The Cult
Released7 October 2022
Recorded2020–2022
StudioRockfield Studios, Psalm Studios, Wax Studios, Clearlake Audio, & Anti Machine Machine Studio
Genre
Length35:02
LabelBlack Hill Records
ProducerTom Dalgety
The Cult chronology
Hidden City
(2016)		 Under the Midnight Sun
(2022)
Singles from Under the Midnight Sun
  1. "Give Me Mercy"
    Released: 7 July 2022

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.[2] The record was produced by Tom Dalgety primarily at Rockfield Studios, where the band had recorded their debut album Dreamtime in 1984.[3]

Background

In a June 2019 interview with LA Weekly, vocalist Ian Astbury stated that The Cult were "long overdue" to release new music, noting that "we do have some stuff we've been working on, but it's yet to see the light of day."[4] Six months later, Astbury told Atlantic City Weekly that the band was going to start working on new music in 2020, saying "we've got a few pieces lying around in various stages of completion. The intention is to get together in the New Year and take a look at what we've got and decide how we are going to go about moving forward. It's an essential part of any creative lifeblood."[5] On May 6, 2020, The Cult announced on their Twitter page that they had signed to Black Hill Records.[6]

On August 15, 2020, guitarist Billy Duffy announced on his Twitter that the band had begun recording with producer Tom Dalgety at Rockfield Studios.[2] Progress was slow for nearly two years, hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the album being recorded remotely, with the half of the band tracking it at Rockfield Studios and Astbury in the United States. In May 2022, Duffy told The Yorkshire Post that the ‘main bulk’ of the album was finished and mastered.[7] On July 7, 2022, the band announced the album title and released "Give Me Mercy" as its first single. Astbury said of the single, "it perfectly fit these thoughts I’d been having about our culture’s need to move past assumptions of duality. We need new language because words can’t express where we’re going."[8]

The album name is said to have come from Astbury's experience during the 1986 Provinssirock festival in Finland.[9][10][11] Astbury was quoted recollecting about the event: “It’s three in the morning, the sun’s up, and there’s all these beautiful people in this halcyon moment. People are laying on the grass, making out, drinking, smoking. It was an incredible moment. When the world stopped [for the pandemic], I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate. I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun."[12]

The album is the first album since Beyond Good and Evil (2001) not to feature drummer John Tempesta who was absent from the recording sessions for unknown reasons but continued to be a member of the band.[13] Drums on the album were instead provided by Ian Matthews of Kasabian.[14]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[15]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[16]
Blabbermouth.net8.5/10[17]
Clash7/10[10]
Classic Rock[18]
Distorted Sound8/10[19]
Mojo[9]
PopMatters6/10[11]
The Telegraph[12]

Under the Midnight Sun has[14] received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics. Blabbermouth.net contributor Dom Lawson praised the new album, noting that it "imagines a new strain of muscular rock, where psychedelic string sections, the desert-bound twang of Duffy's guitar and prosaic but gripping melodies drift in and out of the motoring throng."[17] Similarly, Classic Rock writer Dave Everley mentioned that "there are moments [in the album] that are as good as anything The Cult recorded back in their 80s heyday."[18]

On a more critical level, AllMusic writer Thom Jurek commented that the album "is solid but also has a real shortcoming: it lacks musical diversity. Too many of these melodies are similar enough that they're indistinguishable from one another.”[16] Additionally, The Telegraph contributor Nick Ruskell said that “for much of its second half, [the album’s] magic doesn’t catch quite so well."[12] Yet, John Garrat of PopMatters more clearly noted that the album's "second half is sturdier overall, though it lacks the first half’s proportions of highs and lows."[11]

Track listing

All songs written by Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, except where noted.

  1. "Mirror" (Astbury, Duffy, and Tom Dalgety) – 3:48
  2. "A Cut Inside" – 3:59
  3. "Vendetta X" – 3:23
  4. "Give Me Mercy" (Astbury, Duffy, and Dalgety) – 3:37
  5. "Outer Heaven" (Astbury, Duffy, and Dalgety) – 4:54
  6. "Knife Through Butterfly Heart" – 6:04
  7. "Impermanence" (Astbury, Duffy, and Dalgety) – 4:13
  8. "Under the Midnight Sun" (Astbury, Duffy, and Dalgety) – 5:04

Personnel

Per album liner notes[20]

Technical
  • Engineered by Tom Dalgety, Jack Boston, Eric Milos, & Scott Ryper
  • Mastered by Howie Weinberg

References

  1. ↑ Dent-Robinson, Nick. "Cult – Under the Midnight Sun". www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  2. 1 2 "THE CULT Announces 'Under The Midnight Sun' Album, Shares 'Give Me Mercy' Single". Blabbermouth.net. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "THE CULT Is Recording New Album At Legendary ROCKFIELD STUDIOS". Blabbermouth.net. 15 August 2020. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  4. ↑ "THE CULT Is 'Long Overdue' To Release New Music". Blabbermouth.net. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  5. ↑ "The Cult To Work On New Music Next Year". Blabbermouth.net. 11 December 2019. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  6. ↑ "THE CULT Signs With BLACK HILL RECORDS". Blabbermouth.net. 6 May 2020. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "THE CULT's Next Album Will Be 'Quite Epic' And 'Big-Sounding', Says BILLY DUFFY". Blabbermouth.net. 26 May 2022. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  8. ↑ Cohen, Jonathan (7 July 2022). "The Cult Unveils First Album In Six Years, Under The Midnight Sun". Spin.com. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  9. 1 2 Cameron, Keith (4 October 2022). "Shine So Hard: The Cult Reviewed!". Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  10. 1 2 Clash Music (7 October 2022). "The Cult — Under the Midnight Sun: A majestic return from the seminal outfit..." Clash. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  11. 1 2 3 Garrat, John (17 October 2022). "The Cult Still Rock on 'Under the Midnight Sun'". PopMatters. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  12. 1 2 3 Ruskell, Nick (7 October 2022). "The Cult, Under the Midnight Sun". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  13. ↑ "John Tempesta: Official Website". www.johntempesta.com. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  14. 1 2 3 "ianmatthews.eth on Twitter". Twitter. 17 Oct 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-27.
  15. ↑ "Under the Midnight Sun by The Cult". Metacritic. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  16. 1 2 Jurek, Thom (7 October 2022). "Under the Midnight Sun Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  17. 1 2 Lawson, Dom (7 October 2022). "THE CULT — Under the Midnight Sun". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  18. 1 2 Everley, Dave (6 October 2022). "The Cult return to their magical best on 11th album Under The Midnight Sun". Classic Rock. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  19. ↑ Warwick, Millie (6 October 2022). "ALBUM REVIEW: Under the Midnight Sun — The Cult". Distorted Sound. Retrieved 18 December 2022.
  20. ↑ Under The Midnight Sun (liner notes). Black Hill Records. 2022. BHR011VL.
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