Managing to feel immediate and elusive, Robert Smith and crew’s second studio affair draws us in, but keeps us at a tantalizing distance, tickling the mind with murky suspense.

Despite bearing the name ‘The Cure,’ the band’s twelfth studio affair sounds the least like them among any of their LPs, offering proof that the wrong producer can really damage an album.

‘Three Imaginary Boys’ was not the debut album Robert Smith wanted to make. Everything from the cover art to the track listing to the overall sound flew in the face of what he envisioned.

For the author, and thousands of other fans, ‘Disintegration’ will always be more than just The Cure’s bestselling album. It’s the one thing that heals our insides when nothing else comes close.

Although The Cure’s fifth studio affair bears certain musical hallmarks and lyrical themes of what came before, it illuminates the band during a singular period in their 48-year history.

The Cure’s thirteenth studio album is an enthralling affair featuring Smith’s steady poetic brilliance and the many aesthetic trademarks that make the band so unforgettable.

Paradoxically, ‘Pornography’ teases out the dark, defeatist impulses that lie within while representing a valiant promise to endure.