A straight down, high quality, hard rocker. The Cult’s fourth album and most commercially successful; ‘Sonic Temple’ is a monster album. From the opening moments of ‘Sun King’ all the way through ‘Medicine Train,’ ‘Sonic Temple’ is a feast of excellent production, high quality song writing and pure, bad ass riffs. Not to mention the jam elements. And much of it is layered with a decent portion of groove. The Bob Rock produced masterpiece still remains the bands strongest effort. In a pretty long string of albums. Here’s a look at why it would suffice as a desert island album.
To start it’s a straight down album. Meaning there’s no track that you skip. Each song is strong and serves a purpose to heighten the album. ‘Sun King’ is one of the most bad ass album openers ever. A simple, yet effective song. It’s sly and sleek. Yet rocks hard in your face. And it’s statement opening track saying, ‘get ready, this album is gonna kick your ass.’ The follow up, ‘Firewoman’ is a nearly perfect single. The opening guitar melody is iconic for a reason. The album coasts on strength for the next tracks. Including the hit ‘Edie (Ciao Baby)’ and the sexy concert staple ‘Sweet Soul Sister.’
The back side of the album is just as good as the front. At times even better. ‘Automatic Blues’ is one of the catchiest riffs I’ve ever heard. It’s one of those all day riffs that you can listen to over and over again. Plus the groove gives the song a hot twist. Not to mention Billy Duffy’s guitar solo. Super glad the band have thrown it back into the setlist. ‘New York City’ is a high energy, straight forward rocker. And again, just a killer guitar solo. With a great instrumental jam in the background. ‘Wake Up It’s Time For Freedom’ has a pre-alternative hard rock sound almost. In fact, even though the album is recognized as an 80’s hard rock classic. It also has moments of where hard rock would go in the following decade.
What also excellent about the album is the production. It’s Bob Rock at his peak. It has that recognizable phat drum sound he is known for. And the bass is mixed in nearly perfectly. He captured The Cult at their very best. And The Cult at their very best is a force to be reckoned with. So celebrate this record in all of it’s excellence. As the band are on a 30th anniversary tour of the perfect album. I just wish they would release a 30th anniversary edition of the album with a live album from the tour attached.
