Customer Reviews

The Southern Death Cult

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a compilation of their 3 song e.p., and some great sounding live sessions. People who only know of The Cult's arena rock oriented albums might be puzzled to know that this was Ian Astbury's first band. While he never renounced his Gothic past, this album is quite different from The Cult's more popular albums such as Electric and Sonic Temple. Pure minimalistic, arty gloom and doom. This actually sounds alot like early Cure, Skeletal Family and Joy Division. Not quite as abrasive as Bauhaus, not as experimental as Christian Death and not as glam oriented as Specimen or Sex Gang Children. All the elements of the original Gothic Rock sound are here. The tribal drums, ghostly guitars, howling vocals and oppressively morbid and gloomy atmosphere. Also, some themes that have recurred in The Cult's songs are present here, such as Native American imagery, yet some songs like The Crypt are surprisingly morbid, and others like False Faces are surprisingly angsty. Every song here is classic, even those that are a bit on the rough and raw side. The only song I really skip over is Flowers in The Forest, which is strangely jazzy and doesn't really fit on the compilation.

Not counting Christian Death and Death in June (or Diamanda Galas, for that matter), this album is one of the few truly "gothic" albums to be realeased in the late 70s/early 80s. I would disagree with an earlier review that "The Crypt" is a throw-away song. In fact, it's one of the stand-outs on the album, mixing a heavy, menacing bass with an ambient sound accentuated by piano. It makes its point, truly gothic.

For those who had this album on LP, know that the CD provides a few extra tracks, can't remember which, but they're good, maybe four of them. This CD is only fairly recently available on US domestic issue. To let you know - the live (guess they might be BBC?) tracks are not so great, I always used to skip over them and truth be known those tracks are why I don't listen to the album so much.

But if you're into ealry-80s and late 70s English New Wave, you absolutely must own this record. It's one of a kind, and with its successor, Death Cult's "Ghost Dance", provides a great idiosyncratic duo that can't be beat.

Catch the Native American references also.

What can be said about the Southern Death Cult? Only that they helped lay the way for the goth and deathrock bands to come. This album is a compilation of their recorded material over the short lifespan that they held. Its full of raw goth punk heart as well as dark and political lyrics. This album is a favorite of mine because I can listen to the whole thing without skipping songs, though I do favor a few over the rest:

The Girl - Pounding tom drums and a springing, growling bass line make this track a stand out for me. Its almost reminicent of New Orleans even though I've never been there. My favorite.

The Crypt - Morbid and still full of energy, this song should be on the gothic compilations. The piano addition to this song gives it that eerie graveyard feel. Ians wild laughs and yelps sure help as well.

Vivisection [live] - If a crowd of goths and deathrockers were to ever start a circle pit, it would be to this song. Pure unrestrained goth punk with a slight surf rock feel. Cliff-hanger dragouts between verse and chorus lines will keep you energized.

I recomend this album to anyone who has heard their name, but has procrastinated in buying the album. Thats what I did and I felt bad for doing so. Any fan of goth or deathrock will find something to love in the Southern Death Cult.

Even if you don't listen to the Cult, you may want to check this album out. I had first purchased this along with the Death Cult album (another must have), and at first, I was unimpressed by it. But oddly enough, I just couldn't take it out of my CD player. I wanted to give it another listen, just to see if it would grow on me. And sure enough, it did. The only reason why I didn't give this album five stars is because I felt that the live tracks weren't a good representation of the band. The BBC tracks are fine, but I'm sure there are better recordings of the band live. Normally, I'm not a fan of goth, but this album left me with a lack of words when I was finally hooked. It's a shame that the band broke up before they recorded a full-length album in the studio. I'm sure it would have been better than this excellent album, and worthy of five stars.

This is a compilation of their 3 song e.p., and some great sounding live sessions. People who only know of The Cult's arena rock oriented albums might be puzzled to know that this was Ian Astbury's first band. While he never renounced his Gothic past, this album is quite different from The Cult's more popular albums such as Electric and Sonic Temple. Pure minimalistic, arty gloom and doom. This actually sounds alot like early Cure, Skeletal Family and Joy Division. Not quite as abrasive as Bauhaus, not as experimental as Christian Death and not as glam oriented as Specimen or Sex Gang Children. All the elements of the original Gothic Rock sound are here. The tribal drums, ghostly guitars, howling vocals and oppressively morbid and gloomy atmosphere. Also, some themes that have recurred in The Cult's songs are present here, such as Native American imagery, yet some songs like The Crypt are surprisingly morbid, and others like False Faces are surprisingly angsty. Every song here is classic, even those that are a bit on the rough and raw side. The only song I really skip over is Flowers in The Forest, which is strangely jazzy and doesn't really fit on the compilation.

to me critics always had it wrong. punk wasn't the best thing that happened to music, in fact as the 70's punkers got better they became post punk, new wave, gothic or even what we call alternative. the facts being that they learned their instruments better and began to make better music. Although some 70's punk was awesome for sure , most was very poorly played. Anyways this is a post punk gothic band that at the time these songs were written was obscure like most music of it's type. However it is alot better than most of the bands that were in this field at the time and that's because of the talent of ian astbury who lead this unit. Of course this is the seed of the great band the cult. Which is why I bought this way back in the 80's. and at that time it was only available as a expensive import. the internet made things more equal in price thank god but back then I was at least satisfied by this cd and still own it. It's not bad at all and far better than most post punk stuff so it's worth owning if you are a cult fan completely. If you aren't well then you may like it if you like this type of music which is decent enough. However this is a compilation of a ep and live and other tracks so you need to know that going into this cd.

Great band! Certainly better than its subsequent incarnations, but the sound could be better. Also, far better versions of "Moya" and "Fatman" are on the Gothic Rock 1 & 2 compilations.

You'll hear this in the song Moya. Paha Sapa refers to the Black Hills, which are sacred to the Lakota indians.

This album is sacred ground.

This is not the Cult to be sure, it is better. Smarter, deeper, edgier, and perhaps a bit more energetic, definitely more dangerous.

"Faith" is a great example. It is all about the destruction caused by Christianity. Told from a Native American viewpoint, "Faith" deals with the aftermath of Christianity and its long term effects on the native population.

Youtube "Faith" and compare to any live performance of any Cult classic like "Rain" or "Firewoman". Around 1:15 or so into "Faith", you can see Ian slam the mic stand in a fit of rage. Then watch "Rain", etc. You just dont have this kind of energy in the classic Cult songs. The themes in "Faith" are themes that are important to Ian, and it is plastered throughout this album. Moya is a similar song, and Apache takes on the theme from a different angle, so does Fatman (the Fatman takes away what isnt his).

On the downside, the recording is terrible as it is basically a bunch of live recordings and demos, but the music is worth it. One of those albums that you can listen to for 20+ years and never get tired of it.

Buy the mp3 and you probably wont hear the flaws in the originals anyhow....

If you don't know much of the Cult's other material, then this might strike you as a bit different. But if you like dark bands like Bauhaus & Joy Division, you won't be disappointed. ...unless you mind songs sounding almost the same in a row (I usually don't). Just be sure to listen to it at night, though.... it just doesn't work for me in the daylight :) Another cool option...put it on shuffle with yer other goth cd's.

The Southern Death Cult was one of the old British post-punk/goth bands of the late '70s and early '80s, these days best remembered for being the launching pad for the Cult. And honestly, that's probably the way they're best remembered.

The band was a quartet led by vocalist Ian Astbury. Even at this early stage, Astbury's aggressive and powerful vocals were quite apparent, he dominates every moment he's at the microphone, but unlike the Cult with Billy Duffy's guitar to offer foil for Astbury, there's nothing in the Southern Death Cult to match him. Instead, Astbury sits on top of a background reminiscent of early work by the Cure and Joy Division. The band's total released output was one 12" single, this is presented along with some radio sessions, a few live tracks and some unreleased studio material.

Taking on the 12" first-- the three tracks all feature pretty much the same pattern, goth-styled cleantone guitars are the order of the day, with Astbury's undeniable presence on top of it all. But at its best, the music is somewhat dull even if Astbury is inspired ("The Fatman") and at its worse, Astbury seems unsure of himself and doesn't really know where to go (the other two tracks).

The two radio show pieces are pretty much more of the same-- ranging between dull goth ("Flowers in the Forest") or totally lacking whenever Astbury doesn't sing ("All Glory"). The exception is "Apache", which is somewhat more driven and excitable and while musically it doesn't rise much above the band's cleantone-guitar-goth formula, it's among the better of the pieces in that sound and Astbury's vocal is superb (it also points towards the future). The additional studio sessions are a bit of a mixed bag-- "The Crypt" is a total disaster-- a bizarre shouted backing vocal totally mangles the piece, but both "Moya" and the other recording of "The Fatman" are vast improvements-- setting up atmosphere and mood far better then anything else on the record does, but Astbury's vocals, while definitely the highlight of the pieces, still lack confidence.

In direct opposition to all of this is the three live tracks-- they've got a more punk edge to them, overdriven, feedback soaked guitars dominate the pieces (well, as much as any guitar performance dominates these tracks) and Astbury seems to feed off the live energy, his trademark shouts and quips find their way in ("Faith").

Invariably, it's really more a curiosity than anything else-- the performances aren't horrible, it's all just a bit boring compared to both what would rise from the band's ashes and its contemporaries.