Albums don’t generate as much revenue as playing live—a few sold-out shows in an arena offer a better payday than a new record—and if the material is less than good, fans might even turn away, figuring the group has lost its relevance.

The Cure maintains their signature sound without feeling dated, providing a moving experience from beginning to end. While it might be too early to reflect on where it stands in The Cure’s larger discography, it’s clearly one of their best efforts in the last 30 years.

If this is indeed the Cure’s last album, 'Songs of a Lost World' is a powerful final statement, encapsulating its legacy with haunting beauty.

If I told you 40 years ago, when the Cure was in the midst of its new-wave wonder moment, that the band would craft an inventively elegiac epic like "Songs for a Lost World” - a singular record worthy of face-soaking tears - you would have broken my teasing comb and melted down my Kohl