THE CULT Vinyl & CDs

Review: After they'd moved on from their earliest moves as Death Cult, Ian Astbury's goth-tinged new wave rockers The Cult laid down their opening manifesto proper on Dreamtime and forged a classic in the process. It's a totem of the darker side of new wave for good reason, draped in shimmering guitar lines and angular grooves that defined the era, loaded with driving anthems like the title track and brooding atmospheres aplenty - just catch the sinewy mood of '83rd Dream' as a prime example. An all-time great, now available once again thanks to this reissue on Beggars.

Review: Originally released in 1984, following the band's evolution from the Southern Death Cult, to Death Cult, and then simply The Cult, Dreamtime finds the outfit featuring Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, pivoting from their goth and punk roots into something eclectic, aspirational, and adventurous. Rife with lyrical references to the indigenous cultures of the Americas and Australia, and set against a more bombastic and muscular musical backdrop, Dreamtime hints at what would envelop the band over the next four decades, a dedication to their wholly unique songwriting, both musically and thematically and the frenzy that was soon to come with the release of Love only a year later.