10. Bloodflowers (2000): If Wild Mood Swings was a failed attempt to channel the energy of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Bloodflowers was a modestly successful attempt to recapture the stately gloom of Disintegration and Wish. Coming directly after WMS sputtered in the public eye, it was an immediate and dramatic improvement over that record. But you can't shake the feeling we're getting calculated fan-service in the place of genuine inspiration. The songs are generally gorgeous, but it never quite comes alive. Ultimately, it's low-stakes Cure. The band sticks to one mode for the entire album -- long, slow, and sad -- which means tracks start to bleed together by the back half of the album. A shame, really, since the closing title track is fantastic. Taken in pieces, Bloodflowers has some of Robert Smith's best melodies, though it also marks the beginning of a disturbing trend of truly awful album art that continues to this day. Can't win 'em all.













































