I remember first putting this CD in walkman on the day it came out with a feeling of mixed excitement and anticipation. The Cure were the band that saved my life in a particularly bad period of time so whatever they did would mean a lot to me, however, I really dislike the 'Nu metal' production style created by Robinson and was dreading a cd where I thought Robert Smith would start rapping at any moment and telling the listeners to 'g-g-get ya groove on!'

I was pleasantly surprised, then, to here the slow burning and dark beginning of 'Lost'. This is the Cure in pornography mode but with the eloquence and grace that they never quite achieved at that time. It is a brilliant piece of music and, sadly, the rest of the album doesn't quite live up to it.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, it is a very versatile album, just as versatile as 'Kiss me.....' or 'Wild Mood Swings' but the edge it has over them is that those albums were piled high with filler material which elongated and detracted from them as a whole, where as this album has a reasonable amount of tracks and running time with each song being clearly where it is for a reason

Why, then, did this album not receive a ten? Well for a start there is one serious let down, 'the Promise' is a ridiculously long and frankly boring piece of prog rock emulation. Live it is a masterpiece but on record it is appalling.
I would happily overlook this were it not for one thing, the Cure aren't as engaged as they used to be. The songs on this album are probably some of the best the band have ever written but the passion of Pornography, Disintegration and Japanese Whispers seems to have dissapeared. On occasion, in the bleak 'Labarynth' or the snarling 'Us and Them' you can almost feel the Twenty-something lads of yesteryear laying waste but for the rest of the album it feels like the band have no more angst and love to give.

All in all a worthwhile album and I thoroughly look forward to the next one

I think that the new Cure album is a really special album...it's def not a big commerical/exploited album...the songs are put together nicely, with great lyrical content...I don't know if everyone will enjoy this album, but it's def worth checking it out...4 starts by RS!!