“The eco-system needs it’s predators” mused Ian Astbury last year, and few beasts in rock’n’roll come bigger than The Cult. Those assuming Asto may be a few Tipis short of a reservation following his spell as Jim Morrison can think again.

Amped to an industrial sheen by producer Youth and packed with stripped-back stadium choruses, Born Into This rips from the speakers like an irate Velvet Revolver, Billy Duffy’s relentless axe-hero riffing matched by Astbury’s typically waspish lyrics. “Taste the whip babe!” he bellows in “Undercover Of The Night” homage “Dirty Little Rock Star”.

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Still King Of The Jungle.

PAUL MOODY