•
Rating:
THE REVIEW
Pornography is anguish, fear, and discomfort; the assault of "One Hundred Years" is a metropolitan nightmare, each instrument leaves painful furrows, from the spectral guitar to the desperate synths and the relentless rhythmic section. "A Short Term Effect", less tight, is more hypnotic, absent, and distant, with Smith's voice occasionally affected, Smith's voice more afflicted and desperate than ever in this chapter (the last of the trilogy). "The Hanging Garden", plunges back into the darkest night with a bass line as dark as it is brilliant and funereal synthesizer lines, supported by a tribal rhythm and Smith's vocals lost in the void, telling of inhuman creatures in a garden of nightmares. Melancholy takes over with "Siamese Twins", the drum work becomes more cadenced, and the sounds slow down, but the intensity and anguish continue to torment, just like in the claustrophobic "The Figurehead" which writhes in a harrowing progression and increasingly heavy drumming tainted with a dark tribalism. The resigned and dreamlike "A Strange Day" expands into space until it fades into an ending that glimpses a ray of sun, a cold lifeless light that finds in the oppressive synthesizers opening "Cold" the place to fill the atmosphere with sadness and chilling sounds until the end.
Noises and voices intertwine, forming an unsettling and strange clamor, while amid the noises, a dark keyboard lullaby begins to infiltrate, accompanied by tribal drumming; the lullaby and rhythm rise ever more in volume until they overpower (but not extinguish) the noises. The apocalypse of the title track continues with a Smith increasingly down but still not wanting to lose the battle, everything is swept away in chaos, distorted voices and noises take over again, and the album ends, entering music history in a sinister and obsessive way.
Loading comments slowly
Summary by Bot
Pornography by The Cure is a profoundly dark and intense album capturing despair and fear through haunting guitars, tribal rhythms, and Robert Smith's anguished vocals. The review highlights each track's oppressive atmosphere, from nightmarish urban chaos to melancholy and cold desolation. The album is praised as a landmark in gothic rock, delivering an unforgettable emotional experience. It ends by noting the record's lasting impact on music history.Tracklist Lyrics Videos
The Cure
The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley and led by singer-songwriter Robert Smith. Since the late 1970s they have moved between post-punk, gothic atmospheres and pop-oriented experiments, producing widely admired albums such as Disintegration and Pornography.89 Reviews
Other reviews
By TenshiSell
"This monument of dark music contains the anxieties and frustrations of a generation that isn’t mine, but they cannot fail to belong to me."
"It starts by saying 'It doesn’t matter if we all die.' It ends with hope. 'I must fight this sickness, find a cure.'"
By vanamente
Robert Smith’s sad and lonely existentialism has probably hit rock bottom in his personal journey through drugs and visions.
Pornography is the Cure’s masterpiece album, but for those unfamiliar with them, it’s perhaps better to start from much further back.
By lucarandi80
The Cure knew very well they were recording their greatest masterpiece; it was felt in the air, it was clear.
They cannot be commented on with simple words because the right nouns and adjectives to do so have not yet been invented.
By Daedal
The masterpiece of the first dark generation.
"Pornography" ends after a gloomy 43-minute journey into the alienating landscape that is Robert Smith’s mind.
By Il Tarantiniano
"For me, this is their dark album par excellence along with 'Faith' and 'Seventeen Seconds.'"
"The instruments suffer the most, the singer emits sudden cries of hatred as if he was crying."
