The Cure by, coincidentally, The Cure

Just purchased The Cure's new album. I have a few thoughts on it. The first is that, though a lot of people have been comparing this album to Disintegration, it really sounds a lot more, to me, like Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me. The first is a much more lush-sounding record, with really fat synth-pads laying the foundation for nearly every track, while the latter is really guitar-driven, with the keyboards being used mainly as another voice or another melody instrument. I think the tone of the album is also very similar. "Lost", the first track on The Cure, is one of those great angry-Cure album intros, very reminiscent, I think, of "The Kiss" (which, by the way, has my all-time favorite guitar solo as its introduction).

The rest of the album plays out in about the way you would expect. But I have to say, this album is very satisfying. Definitely their most satisfying record since Wish. My only complaint is more about Robert Smith's approach to vocals--he seems to be using the lower register much more these days, which has a tendency to cut the power his vocals always seemed to have. There's no more of the faux-operatic tone he used a lot on Kiss Me, which is a shame. But overall, a nice Cure record, I think.