Hugh Cornwell: Totem And Taboo

The punk veteran returns to top form.

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Later this year, Hugh Cornwell will embark on a UK tour, performing this new studio album and The Stranglers’ classic No More Heroes in their entirety. Diehard fans may be more likely to start drooling over the latter prospect than the former, but the songs on Totem And Taboo should easily hold their own against the likes of Bring On The Nubiles and Dagenham Dave.

Thanks to a gloriously raw and vibrant sound, courtesy of the ever-reliable Steve Albini, Cornwell’s endearingly sardonic observations on freedom, consumerism and Madonna Louise Ciccone crackle with energy.

Whether gently poking fun at middle-class myopia on Stuck In Daily Mail Land or smirking wryly at American morality on Gods, Guns And Gays, he sounds more engaged and intense than he has in years. It ends with the menacing sprawl of In The Dead Of Night, Cornwell’s finest and most unashamedly epic moment since the punk era.

Dom Lawson
Writer

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.