Sonic Temple is the fourth studio album by British rock band The Cult, released on 10 April 1989. Produced by Bob Rock, the album features some of the band's most popular songs, including "Fire Woman" and "Edie (Ciao Baby)". Described by guitarist Billy Duffy as "rock music from a European perspective with the sensibilities of punk", Sonic Temple was the last album recorded with longtime bassist Jamie Stewart, who left in 1990, and the first to feature session drummer Mickey Curry.

Production

During 1988, The Cult recorded the first 14-track demo version of Sonic Temple with Eric Singer (later of Kiss) on drums. Later on, they tracked a new demo version of the album, tracking fifteen songs with Chris Taylor, drummer of producer Bob Rock's band Rock and Hyde. However, after things did not work out with Singer and Taylor, Mickey Curry was hired to record the final album.

Recorded at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver from September to November 1988, progressive and arena rock influences.

Duffy's approach to the guitar changed significantly on this album, with the guitarist stating, "I'd come full circle with the Les Paul. (...) I started taking the front off the Les Paul and went back to the natural finish while also playing the wah pedal half-closed like [<nowiki/>Mick Ronson]. It was back to guys like Mick Ronson, Mick Ralphs, Thin Lizzy and Jimmy Page."

Reception

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews, with some interpreting the change in sound positively and some negatively. John Leland of The New York Times deemed Sonic Temple "both [the Cult's] most conventional album and its most convincing", continuing: "Using a few simple riffs and images, the Cult creates an entire environment, one more exciting and stimulating than our own. Bob Rock, the album's producer, washes blunt, powerful sound over the broadness of most of the band's strokes. Sonic Temple makes a virtue of its lack of subtlety."

In a less enthusiastic review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau wrote: "Having risen from cultdom as a joke metal band metal fans were too dumb to get, they transmute into a dumb metal band. Dumb was the easy part. Ha ha."

Karen Douthwaite of Hi-Fi News & Record Review noticed that the band "recycling the same riffs for the last few albums" and "guitar sound intensified and metallized to AC/DC proportions." Parke Puterbaugh of Stereo Review considered that the band "borrows its inspiration" from Led Zeppelin, Queen and other AOR heroes from the hard rock Seventies, but "there's something perversely addictive about this music, with its upfront aggression and its slow-motion orgasms of drums and guitars building to a raunchy climax."

Commercial performance

The album reached the Cult's highest chart position in the US, peaking at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 charts, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1990.

Accolades

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| Guitar World

| US

| Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of the Eighties

| 2015

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|Ulltimate Classic Rock

|US

|Top 30 Glam Metal Albums

| 2021

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Track listing

Bonus tracks

  • "Medicine Train" – 4:42 (On CD, in some countries, cassette release, and 30th Anniversary LP)
  • "The River" (Only on Russian, Eastern European, and 30th Anniversary LP pressings)
  • "Bleeding Heart Graffiti" (On 30th Anniversary LP)
  • "Messin' Up The Blues" (On 30th Anniversary LP)
  • "Fire Woman (NYC Rock Mix)" (On 30th Anniversary LP)
  • "Edie (Ciao Baby) (Acoustic)" (On 30th Anniversary LP)
  • "Lay Down Your Gun" (Version 2) (Only on Russian and Eastern European pressings)

Saudi Arabian version

There was a Saudi Arabian version released, with the track listing expanded (although "Soul Asylum" had been removed) and slightly rearranged:

  1. "Sun King"
  2. "Fire Woman"
  3. "American Horse"
  4. "Edie (Ciao Baby)"
  5. "Sweet Soul Sister"
  6. "NYC"
  7. "Automatic Blues"
  8. "Soldier Blue"
  9. "Wake Up Time for Freedom"
  10. "Medicine Train"
  11. "Electric Ocean"
  12. "King Contrary Man"
  13. "Born to Be Wild"
  14. "Outlaw"

Personnel

;The Cult

  • Ian Astbury – vocals, percussion
  • Billy Duffy – guitar
  • Jamie Stewart – bass, keyboards

;Additional personnel

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Certifications

References