The Cult - Give me Mercy

July 7th 2022

(Single Review)

****1/2

The new Cult single made me beg for mercy

I’m one of those odd and rare folk, that prefers newer music from The Cult, rather than their earlier stuff... for which they are better known for. Years ago, you couldn’t go out to a Rock night somewhere without a Cult track playing, normally 'She sells Sanctuary'. They were like a Goth version of Guns 'n' Roses, even though I have to say their early Southern Death Cult stuff was not like this. I’m not making many friends here, but bear with me: newer Cult is hugely better than this in my opion... and the new single 'Give me Mercy' is blinding.

The last few years / decades have seen them go from an overly polished sound to a much more smokey, melancholy vibe and its incredibly soothing. More true Blues than Gothic, like a song to sip whisky to. Ian Astby sounds much more comfortable with his husky voice and the years of being in the rebranded version of The Doors should not be overlooked by fans. To be honest The Doors without Jim Morrison was never going to be the same, but you can say the same about loads of bands that have done this Queen, Christain Death, Linkin Park, Drowning Pool ext. Billy Duff’s guitar here sounds like its just weeping, it sounds like nothing else. An incredible soulful sound that sends shivers all the way through me and sounds better with each play through, you can listen to it at the bottom of this page.

The bass and drums help keep the track together, and never sound like they are competing for attention in the track. All of them sound like they are working together to bring out the best in the song and not just for building egos nor nostalgia. Both Billy and Ian sound like soulmates, it's hard to find chemistry between two musicians like this... they are both speaking the same language. As Astbury states - “At the core of it all, music contains the vibrational frequency of how we once communicated before we could even speak". And he aint wong, this track speaks to us all. With it's fantastic shimmering slice of Bluesy Rock from one time Goth Gods. Like Whisky, they get better with age.