The Cure’s Self-Titled Album in 2004

As the clock struck midnight on the first day of 2024, the haunting melodies of The Cure’s self-titled 12th album, released in 2004, filled the air. How delightfully fitting to usher in the new year with one’s beloved band, even if the album in question isn’t one’s absolute favourite.

This cheeky little number served as my inaugural midnight listen of the year – how terribly rock and roll of me!

This intriguing work arrived at a time when The Cure were in dire need of fresh inspiration. Their sound had begun to grow stale, like the musty air in a long-forgotten crypt. The choice of Ross Robinson as producer – a chap known for his work with the likes of Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Slipknot – seemed as perilous as donning a white shroud to a séance. Yet, by the grace of the gothic gods, it proved a risk worth taking!

One might ponder, “What possessed Robert Smith to choose Ross?” Was he seeking to give The Cure’s sound a jolly good shake, like a skeleton rattling its bones? But let us recall Robert’s role: since the release of their debut album, Three Imaginary Boys (1979) – which turned out about as well as a vampiric tea party – he’s been steering The Cure’s direction with the intensity of a spectre haunting its ancestral home.

After a long and winding journey through the shadows, culminating in the delightfully gloomy Bloodflowers (2000), The Cure found themselves teetering on the precipice of becoming yet another 80s relic. They risked playing the same old tunes, sounding as fresh as a centuries-old tomb, trapped in a cycle more vicious than a werewolf under a full moon.

Working with Ross might have been the elixir they needed. Ross, being a devotee of The Cure himself, understood that fans yearned for works as monumental as Disintegration (1987), yet simultaneously craved something utterly different. Fans, it seems, are harder to satisfy than a banshee with a sore throat.

“I can’t find myself,” Robert Smith laments repeatedly on the album’s opening track, “Lost.” Each word sounds as if it’s been wrenched from the depths of a tormented soul – utterly suffocating and hopeless. The music carries a hint of nu-metal, courtesy of the album’s producers, like a drop of blood in a glass of absinthe.

This is The Cure’s heaviest work in decades, as weighty as a cathedral’s stone walls. Robert’s vocals are more unique and despairing than ever, conveying the feeling of someone who’s lost their footing in a particularly treacherous graveyard. The mixing makes the vocals stand out like a crow against a moonlit sky, forcing a sense of suffocation, supported by drums and guitars that are more turbulent than a storm-tossed sea of souls.

Lo and behold, this album turns out to be a guitar-heavy rock opus! Who would have thought the gothic maestros capable of such thunderous sounds?

Sadly, keyboardist Roger O’Donnell’s role is reduced in this album, much like the likelihood of finding solace in a world of eternal darkness. Since we adored his keyboard work in Disintegration, which was as signature to The Cure as moonlight is to the night, we can’t help but feel a tad melancholic about this turn of events.

This album isn’t quite nü-metal, but it’s still mixed in quite a bit, and Robert has become prominent again. With Simon Gallup’s dynamic bass and his signature heaviness, it’s like adding a dash of nightshade to your favourite potion – unexpectedly potent!

Ultimately, The Cure is still a Cure album, meaning it’s worth a listen and can be enjoyed on its own merits, like a good cup of blood-red wine. However, it may not appeal to those who only discovered The Cure on Wish (1992). Those who were captivated by the gothic atmosphere of Pornography (1982) may find that this album resonates with them like a well-tuned dirge in a candlelit cathedral.

And there you have it, dear creatures of the night – a jolly good romp through The Cure’s 2004 self-titled album. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I believe it’s time for a spot of midnight tea and a bit of goth rock. Until we meet again in the shadows…

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The Cure Website: https://www.thecure.com

The Cure (Album) 2004