THE SOUTHERN DEATH CULT - The Southern Death Cult

Original recordings 1982-1983
Compilation LP Beggars Banquet 1983
CD reissue Beggars Banquet 1996



"One of the leading bands in the post punk, pre-gothic movement of London, an emerging form of gloom and doom rock. The band was the brainchild of Ian Astbury, the only one who would remain in the band for all of its incarnations. The Southern Death Cult would become infamous, several lineup changes and two name changes later, as The Cult. It is easy to see the formative influence this earlier incarnation had on the goth blues metal 'cult', though the music is much more raw and powerful. I think that this incarnation is the best of the three Cults, the next being the Death Cult, before axing all those long words from their name".
(deathrock.com)

"Southern Death Cult had the tribal tom-tom rhythms, while singer Ian Astbury wore a Mohican just like [Bow Wow Wow's singer] Annabella, along with feather and chicken-bone necklaces (a jewellery collection that expanded with each visit to KFC). But Astbury's obsession with Native American culture went slightly deeper than Adam Ant's, with his skimmed library books and cosmetic appropriation of the Navajo nose-stripe. Astbury had spent five years in Canada as a youth, during which time he'd visited Indian reservations and cultural centres. Returning to the UK just in time for Punk, he became deeply involved in 1977's revolution. When Punk died, Astbury felt bereft and rudderless, and turned to Native American culture for spiritual sustenance. The name Southern Death Cult itself came from a Mississipi Valley tribe who maintained burial mounds and shrines".
(Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again)

ENJOY


Fatman