Cruelty Without Beauty

This article is about the album. For the cosmetics company, see Beauty Without Cruelty. For the song by Arch Enemy, see Khaos Legions.

Cruelty Without Beauty is the fourth^[9] studio album by Soft Cell. The album was released on 8 October 2002. It is Soft Cell's first album since 1984's This Last Night in Sodom. An expanded and remastered re-issue of the album was released on 25 September 2020. It included new remixes by Dave Ball, 4 of which were released as a limited white vinyl 12-inch single. The album was also released on vinyl for the first time.^[10]

Cruelty Without Beauty
Studio album by Soft Cell
Released	8 October 2002
Recorded	2002
Genre	Synth-pop
Length	54:56
Label	Cooking Vinyl COOK CD245 Spin Art SPART 116
Producer	Dave Ball, Ingo Vauk
Soft Cell chronology
This Last Night in Sodom (1984) Cruelty Without Beauty (2002) The Bedsit Tapes (2005)
Singles from Cruelty Without Beauty
"Monoculture" b/w "Dancing Alone" Released: September 2002 "The Night" b/w "Perversity" Released: January 2003

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	70/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
Blender	[1]
Robert Christgau	[3]
Hot Press	8.5/10[4]
NME	Mixed[5]
Release Magazine	[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[7]
Q	[1]
Uncut	[8]

Track listing

All songs written by Marc Almond and David Ball unless otherwise noted.

1. "Darker Times" (Marc Almond, David Ball, Ingo Vauk)
2. "Monoculture"
3. "Le Grand Guignol"
4. "The Night" (Bob Gaudio, Al Ruzicka)
5. "Last Chance"
6. "Together Alone"
7. "Desperate"
8. "Whatever It Takes"
9. "All Out of Love"
10. "Sensation Nation"
11. "Caligula Syndrome"
12. "On an Up"

Personnel

Soft Cell

• Marc Almond – vocals, backing vocals, arrangement
• Dave Ball – electronic instruments, additional backing vocals

with:

• Dominic Glover – trumpet
• Nicol D. Thomson – trombone
• Mike Smith – saxophone
• Chris Braide – backing vocals

Technical

• Layout – Grace Van Detta
• Engineer – Ingo Vauk
• Assistant mix engineer – Haicong Guo
• Mastering – Dave Blackman
• Photography – Evelyn
• Producer – Dave Ball, Ingo Vauk
• Programming – Ingo Vauk
• Additional help – Antti Uusimaki, Philip Bagenal