Review Summary: Cult is a nod to everything Bayside have done in the past whilst also keeping the future looking extremely bright.
Recently when I was lucky enough to interview Bayside bassist Nick Ghanbarian he mentioned that the recording of their sixth album
Cult went extremely quickly. In fact it went so quickly that the band themselves began to question why and if it was a good or bad thing. Bayside ultimately deemed it was a good thing and I believe this sums up perfectly what
Cult is all about. At this point in their careers Bayside are seasoned musicians, accustomed to studio life and don’t need to drastically change up their sound. Bayside have a formula for writing albums that works, with only minor tweaks needed on every successive release to maintain their high quality output of good honest music.
From the beginning
Cult pretty much kicks off from where the band left listeners back in 2011 with their fifth album Killing Time.
Cult opens with a huge arena sized drum beat on the track ‘Big Cheese’ which quickly picks up with some aggressive guitar work. In a song where lead singer Anthony Raneri expresses the desperation of not wanting to be forgotten, through his familiar mix of aggressive yet soothing vocal display. After a face melting guitar solo the song ends and the single ‘Time Has Come’ rolls around. ‘Time Has Come’ is classic Bayside, there’s no other way to describe it. Punchy bass, frantic driving guitar work and a huge catchy chorus all fuse together to make one memorable pop-punk tune. After ‘Time Has Come’ the rest of
Cult largely maintains the same quality and format with small variances in song writing here and there.
The remaining most notable tracks include ‘Transitive Property’, ‘Stuttering’ and the albums closer ‘The Whitest Lie’. ‘Transitive Property’ is a slower more heartfelt number, about navigating through the seas of the tough parts of a relationship. Raneri’s vocals go from soothing to aggressive in the blink of an eye and a calming melodic guitar solo breaks through the ice but doesn’t overstay its welcome. ‘Stuttering’ shows off some great driving bass guitar lines and talented lyricism where Raneri acknowledges that he is “the voice of the depressed and that's what everyone expects”. Personally I believe in order to finish an album correctly the final track has to be one of the best from the album and Bayside do this with ‘The Whitest Lie’. The closer wraps everything up nicely and acts as a positive ending to farewell for fans, until they see the band again next time. Swirling guitar lines and thumping base drive the song and it simmers down to the end with an infectious chant.
Fans of Bayside will adore this release and for those who already had question marks over this band,
Cult probably won’t change your mind. But great song writing on tracks like ‘Time Has Come’, ‘Stuttering’ and ‘The Whitest Lie’ show a band in full swing and who have added to their already impressive arsenal of songs. Ultimately what Bayside have done of their sixth studio album
Cult is a nod to everything they have done in the past whilst also keeping the future looking extremely bright.
