Death Cult Release “Paradise Live” Via Beggars Banquet

Death Cult laid the groundwork for the band we now know as The Cult, and in 2023, to mark the band’s 40th anniversary, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, along with John Tempesta on bass and Charlie Jones on drums, revived Death Cult for a special run of shows.

Out now, Paradise Live is a 16-track live album that documents this rebirth of Death Cult. Recorded at the iconic Albert Hall in Duffy’s hometown of Manchester on Nov. 18, 2023, the release, which features no overdubs, will be available on 2LP, CD, and digitally. Listen to the album here: https://deathcult.ffm.to/paradiselive.

As New Noise Magazine wrote, “Ian and Duffy are brothers in musical cause and are counterparts to a quintessential era of Gothic New Wave or First Wave, Camden-era punk. Death Cult were the brothers of The Clash and Siouxsie and The Banshees. They were in the scene.”

The Cult’s first incarnation was Southern Death Cult, formed in 1981, releasing their sole, self-titled album posthumously in 1983. That same year, Death Cult formed, with Ian Astbury joining forces with Billy Duffy for a musical partnership that has endured for 40+ years. Death Cult became The Cult in 1984 releasing Dreamtime that same year.

Ian and Billy initially weren’t sure how many shows they would do as Death Cult, but the post-punk gothic futurists decided to listen to the requests to keep the fervor going. The next leg of shows begins tonight in Niagara Falls and continues to Oct. 30 in Los Angeles. These truly special evenings will have Death Cult opening for The Cult.

The Cult has enjoyed numerous international and U.S. gold and platinum certifications. Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy have released 11 studio albums over The Cult’s 40-year career. The band found international renown with the 1985 album, Love, which featured the enduring rock anthem “She Sells Sanctuary,” as well as the oft-heard follow-up single “Rain.” Electric arrived in 1987, with Rolling Stone saying the collection of songs (particularly “Love Removal Machine,” “Wild Flower” and “Lil’ Devil”) “swaggers, crunches and howls.” Most recently, The Cult released Under the Midnight Sun. Mojo, in a review of the eight-song album, said “rock’s unquenchable melodramatists have the fire in their eyes still.”