On the 22nd of April 1980, post-punk giants The Cure took their first steps into the world of goth-rock with the release of their second studio album, Seventeen Seconds.
Although their later album Disintegration is renowned as their magnum opus, Seventeen Seconds is a personal favourite for many fans. It was a much more sombre approach to the experimental sound established in Three Imaginary Boys, establishing them as a gloomy phenomenon in the British music industry.
Seventeen Seconds switches between instrumental soundscapes and Robert Smith’s typically haunting vocals. What makes Seventeen Seconds such a brilliant piece of music is its grandeur as a whole – songs like ‘A Forest’ of course have stood the test of time as singles, but listening to the album in one go is a whole other experience. Highlights like ‘The Final Sound; and ‘A Reflection’ are perfectly discordant, and Seventeen Seconds will forever stand out as a masterpiece of the post-punk genre.
The Cure’s Seventeen Seconds is available via Fiction Records.
