The Cure Rearrange Their Past on ‘All Is Yellow, Hot, Hot, Hot.’ — 9/10

The Cure have spent decades making music that feels like walking through fog, and All Is Yellow, Hot, Hot, Hot. is not an exception. It is a nine-track album that leans hard on the band’s older work, rearranging old songs and adding new ones around them. The goal is simple: make something that sounds like The Cure’s golden period, circa 1981–1984, with the band’s current lineup doing the work. Whether it succeeds depends on which track you are listening to.

Torture Opens the Record

“Torture” opens the album as a slow-burning opener, all guitar and tension. It sets the tone before the record even reaches its first real peak.

A Strange Day Through Japanese Dream

“A Strange Day” follows with a lighter touch, a gentle song that eases the listener in after the opener’s weight. “Japanese Dream” picks the pace back up, bringing some of the album’s sharper energy to the surface.

Catch and If Only Tonight We Could Sleep

“Japanese Dream” is followed by “Catch,” a track that moves with a steady rhythm. Then comes “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” one of the record’s strongest moments, built around a melody that sticks in the ear long after the song ends.

The Walk and A Forest

“The Walk” is a quiet, reflective piece that sits comfortably between the record’s peaks. “A Forest” closes the middle stretch of the album, a track that leans heavily on the band’s earlier work without feeling like a copy.

Fight and Charlotte Sometimes

“Fight” is where the record starts to lose focus, a track that feels less essential than the ones around it. “Charlotte Sometimes” closes the album on a note that ties the record together, though it does not quite match the highs that came before it.

What Works, What Doesn’t

The record’s best moments are its clearest ones. “Torture,” “If Only Tonight We Could Sleep,” and “A Forest” carry the album. The weaker tracks — “Fight” in particular — feel like filler rather than additions to the story.

All Is Yellow, Hot, Hot, Hot.

That title tells you what the record is trying to be: bright, urgent, and a little uncomfortable. The music inside it mostly delivers on that promise, even when individual tracks fall short.

The Verdict

All Is Yellow, Hot, Hot, Hot. is a competent, uneven record from a band that knows exactly what it wants to sound like. Its best moments rank with the band’s best work. Its weaker moments simply do not belong alongside them. This is a record worth hearing for its peaks, and worth skipping past its valleys.

Key Facts

• Artist: The Cure
• Album: All Is Yellow, Hot, Hot, Hot.
• Release type: Album
• Tracks: 9
• Score: 9 of 10

album review · gothic rock · new album · retro revival · The Cure