Cvlt Nation Sessions -The Cure's "Pornography"

While My family over at Cvlt Nation always picks albums I love when they choose to put these tributes albums out, they have made things extra difficult for themselves. Not only is the Cure one of my all time favorite bands, but "Pornography" is my favorite cure album ."Hanging Garden" should be heavy do to the darkness with the razor sharp guitar melody is slinging out you. Annex got the bat-cave reverb right. Their singer can't muster the same level of desperation Robert Smith had. This version just doesn't have the same punch.

 You can really hear the influence the Cure had on today's indie rock when you hear Lunch's cover of " A Short term Effect ". They get the job done better than most with this one, but once again the mood is more indifferent than tapping into the visceral outpouring of heart the original had. It's my first time hearing Flowers and Fire, so "Hanging Garden " is a pretty tall order.  They seem to have a natural murkiness to their sound.The vocals are a little weak and the more lo-fi wall of effects keeps things raw, but less focused tonally.  Curezum the metal Cure tribute act. They must have chosen the name as a joke, because they sound nothing like Burzum. What this project does to is got with the rasped metal vocals.   vocals , While I like their idea, I think it loses a little of the song in translation.

One of the best songs on the album is undoubtedly Kaspar Hauser's cover of " the Figure Head" which effectively captures the mood of the original without losing their own sense of identity. There is a very feel to this one. The vocals might be the best on the album thus far. This one is the first to really impress me. Then comes Aztec Death's version of "A Strange Day". The indifferent vocals once again drop the ball. The guitars are doing some pretty cool stuff, not really capturing the heart of the song. Ambersmoke throws "Cold" out the window and opts to make noise instead.

The title track is a tall order to tackle. They throw on some swirling noise to provide the smoke and mirrors of approaching this goth epic.I like the effects on the vocals. I think the kind of punk sneer to the vocals misses the point of the melody.  I think where many of  these bands go wrong is the detached coldness they approach these songs with. It was how Robert Smith really poured this overflowing emotion into what he did here that makes the album so powerful. Some people say they can't stand Robert smith because he is so whiny. These are tortured lamentations. These bands might have done better with "Three Imaginary Boys" I'll give this a 7.

Cvlt Nation Sessions : Joy Division's "Closer"

I think most of my readers here are aware of  my connection to Cvlt Nation. So it should come as no surprise that I am going to review their  Sessions album which focuses on Joy Division's "Closer" album. They have done this with a wide range of punk, metal and post-punk classics so it makes sense that this album is up for the cover treatment. When looking at the kind of bands featured on this they all fall in line with the sort of artists the website has branded itself with. We agree on many things, the difference in our musical tastes tends to be Sean and company come from more of a punk rock background and steer away from some of the more commercial bands we touch on here. I like what I like regardless of if they are on Century Media or only releasing their albums in a limited 100 copy cassette pressing. In fact I like better production most of the time.

First up is "Atrocity Exhibition" covered by the drone project Ambersmoke admitted to not liking this song or this album and that is evident because for the bulk of the song  the beat is really the only thing this has in common with the original, though it eventually takes on a shape closer to the original. Lunch is a band much more suited to cover "Isolation".  While it's a similar delivery perhaps a little faster phrasing, The vocals are a little higher than Ian's , but over all the do the song justice. A Black People handles "Passover" . They deviate from the blue print but being a death-rock band this is done in the best way possible. I assumed Shadowhouse would also take good care of "Colony" and I was correct.  They might even have come closer to the bulls eye than Lunch. There is an almost 90s industrial feel to the vocals on Sun Splitter's cover of "Means to an End". They nail the guitar riff for sure.

Sannhet's take on 'the Eternal" shows their respect for the band but still honors their own sound. The guitar playing is some of this album's best. They surprise me by using vocals on this one. Rule of Thirds is up next with "Decades". Another band that I had a feeling would at least musically capture the feel of the original. The vocals are where things really wildly differ and from their it twists my ear askew. The bass player knows what time it is for sure though.The band maintains their identity for sure. Going into Scott Kelly's cover of "Isolation" I was not sure what to expect. The music is more minimal and Kelly sticks to his more folk approach than the kind of singing he delivered in Neurosis. He does honor the feel of Ian and the boys. Overall I think there are some good pairings of artist with songs, the stand outs here being A Black People, Shadowhouse, Sannhet and Sun Splitter. If you are a Joy Division fan this is worth a listen as you might find some new bands you like in the process.