The Cure’s ‘Songs of a Lost World’: All 8 Tracks Ranked 

The Cure’s first album in 16 years is finally here, which means Cure fans had to wait longer for Songs of a Lost World than devotees of Tool or D’Angelo have ever had to wait for an album from their favorite artist.

Frontman Robert Smith, the only consistent member of the band since its formation in 1978, has been talking up the follow-up to 2008’s 4:13 Dream for over a decade, and new songs have peppered the band’s set lists for the last two years. Still, it didn’t quite feel certain the album would ever arrive until the band released the single “Alone” in September and announced a release date.  
 
For most of the Cure’s history, the band has built a devoted following with dark, cohesive albums like 1982’s Pornography and 1989’s Disintegration that reflect the band’s goth and post-punk roots. But what pushed the Cure into arenas and stadiums were bright, catchy crossover hits like “Just Like Heaven” and “Friday I’m in Love.” There is no push and pull between those extremes on Songs of a Lost World: it’s pretty much all doom and gloom, inspired largely by a number of deaths in Smith’s family. For most other bands, that might be worrying news, but for Cure fans, it means a potential masterpiece.  
 
Smith recorded the album, which previously had the working title Live from the Moon, with longtime co-producer Paul Corkett and a quintet lineup featuring musicians that joined the Cure in the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2010s. Smith draws inspiration from William Shakespeare and the 19th century British poet Ernest Dowson for the lyrics on Songs of a Lost World, and the cover photo features a sculpture by the late Slovenian artist Janez Pirnat.

The Cure’s latest full-length is a serious work of art meant to be digested as a whole, but here’s Billboard’s preliminary ranking of every track on Songs of a Lost World.