I used to love this album when I was younger, but recently I relistened to Cross a few times and realised that there are a lot of flaws in this thing. There are some real standouts like D.A.N.C.E., Stress, Waters of Nazareth and maybeeee the Phantom songs (with Pt.II being better imo) but everything else ranges from alright and somewhat catchy to repetitive and actually kind of boring.

...Which is the case for Let There Be Light, also being the worst track where almost nothing happens in it except for the cute little synth at the end that I like. Usually I do not have a problem with repetitive music (Human After All by Daft Punk for example) but Let There Be Light is just a bad kind of repetitive. I skip it every single time.

The vocals on The Party and DVNO are also NOT very good. I understand what Uffie was going for but it just did not work, the lyrics come off as really corny but the vocal fry she does is the thing that gets to me most. It's a shame because the instrumental for The Party is actually one of the best ones on the album but the vocals hold it back so much that it just sucks all the good out of it. I think The Party is a taaad bit too overhated though. It could have been worse.

And, well, DVNO IS kind of worse. I can't quite pinpoint why, but I just find the guy's tone in that song super annoying and almost tone-deaf. Although I will say DVNO is a weird track because there are parts of the song I find catchy and parts where I just do not like it at all, it's really up and down.

Newjack is a pretty solid track but there is that one reversed snare-type sound that they use WAY too much later on in the song to the point where it becomes almost stressful and unpleasant to listen to it. The second half of the song after that little TV static transition is definitely more enjoyable than the first half.

Contrary to what some people say, I think Valentine is actually pretty alright as an interlude track. It has a cute and wholesome melody, but the distorted scratches and wind sounds that you start to hear as the song progresses hints at something more sinister which I find very interesting. Pretty good.

Waters of Nazareth is easily the best track on this album though, no debate. The fact that a song as fucked up and disgustingly grungy as Nazareth even exists in the first place is unreal. Really remarkable and it's one of the few tracks on this album I do revisit every now and then.

Overall, I can understand why this is almost everyone's favourite Justice album, but I just think it has aged a lot, and quite poorly. Many will disagree, but I will always think that Justice' later works are better than this. It's their first studio album, and you can hear it.

Not a bad album. Just not that great. I enjoy it to a certain degree still.