SOFT CELL CRUELTY WITHOUT BEAUTY ALBUM COOKING VINYL, VME RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 30, 2002 REVIEW: OCTOBER 1, 2002

It’s taken 18 years for Soft Cell to rise from the ashes of the musical and emotional meltdown that was their last album “This Last Night in Sodom”.
In the meantime, Marc Almond’s solo carrier has been a unique and fascinating journey through decadent cabaret crooning. The supremely depraved “Mother Fist” album from 1987 stands as a pitch black highpoint, a blood red ruby enveloped in fantasies of death, masturbation and John Holmes - and glam pop. It has granted him the seemingly schizophrenic ability to both revel in glitter and kitsch and collaborate with underground figureheads Foetus and Coil.
Dave Ball on the other hand, has taken a less visible route, working with Psychic TV during their acid house phase and forming The Grid, best known to most people (myself included) for the horrible banjo techno hit “Swamp Thing”.
My first contact with the reunited Soft Cell was an amazing performance at the Arvika Festival this summer. Unfortunately, the new album “Cruelty without Beauty” doesn’t really live up to the expectations caused by this. Gathered together here are a dozen suitably seedy pop songs, many of them outstanding.
Both the single “Monoculture” and northern soul cover “The Night” are as close to perfect but twisted pop music you can possibly get. “Last Chance” is a bittersweet lament about our desperate search for love. “Caligula Syndrome” visits the dark corners of the human mind with sparkling, vicious joy. Themes familiar, but well worth revisiting.
Still, compared to their three earlier albums, there’s an urgency missing in Soft Cell’s new music. It could have something to do with being older, having crawled through the darkest tunnels to find yourself in comparative light. Or maybe that’s just assuming crap. Either way, although still a valid and good band, the Soft Cell of 2002 don’t quite engage me in the way they used to.
Nevertheless, this album has to be considered a must if you’ve ever been a fan of the duo.

KRISTOFFER NOHEDEN