Twenty-five years ago today, The Cure released what many fans consider the band’s masterwork, the gloom-struck epic Disintegration — an album that found Robert Smith and Co. snapping out of their mid-’80s pop phase in favor of a darker, more cinematic sound.

The Cure played their first of two shows Friday night at London’s legendary Royal Albert Hall as part of the annual Teenage Cancer Trust concert series, treating fans to a marathon 45-song set that featured some true surprises, including the live debut of Disintegration-era B-side “2 Late.”

The Cure’s two sold-out shows at London’s Royal Albert Hall in March are being billed as just the beginning of “a very busy 2014” for Robert Smith and Co., with the band today announcing plans to release the long-delayed companion to 2008’s 4:13 Dream and a series of live DVDs — and a third ‘Trilogy’ tour.

The readers of Slicing Up Eyeballs named The Cure’s grim third album ‘Faith’ as the best record of 1981, an accolade that led then-drummer Lol Tolhurst to reflect this week on that “very emotional and intense period of my life,” and thank fans for the fact that the album “still resonates with people all these years later.”

Eight months after first announcing plans for a new album, The Mission have convened in England to begin recording with producer David M. Allen — who has worked with The Cure, Depeche Mode, Wire and The Sisters of Mercy — and this week announced a new record deal and plans to release the album in September.

Four years, 3,149 individual posts, 2 million unique visitors, 6.4 million total pageviews. But out of all that, what are the most popular headlines on Slicing Up Eyeballs since this site launched on Feb. 20, 2009? Well, as you can see from the list below, they involve news about Nirvana, The Cure, U2, R.E.M., The Smiths and Depeche Mode.

The Cure’s now a few day into a month-long break in its summer festival tour, and frontman Robert Smith says the band will use the time to record with new guitarist Reeves Gabrels for the first time — plus, he claims, the long-promised ‘Mixed Up 2’ will come out before Christmas with new remixes by the likes of Mogwai and Cranes.

Taking a page from Depeche Mode’s Alan Wilder, guitarist Porl Thompson this month will auction off dozens of personal items spanning his tenure(s) in The Cure, including a guitar played on ‘Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me’ and ‘Wish,’ album artwork proofs and clothing ranging from a ‘black net catsuit’ to leather corsets.

More than a year after it was first announced, it appears the double-vinyl release of The Cure’s expanded ‘Entreat Plus’ live album finally will see a U.S. release on Record Store Day — although it’s not an exclusive RSD release, meaning it could be available at non-participating or non-indie stores and will be sold online.

The Cure will release a 2CD live recording next month of its full, 32-song set at the U.K.’s Bestival this past September, marking the first official live album from Robert Smith and Co. since 1993’s back-to-back ‘Show’ and ‘Paris’ releases recorded during the ‘Wish’ tour — and the first time ever the band has released a complete concert on disc.

Thanks to a well-timed tweet from Chain of Flowers, we were tipped to this mesmerizing cover of The Cure’s ‘Disintegration’ by Los Angeles dream-pop duo Snow & Voices just in time to squeeze it onto the playlist for this week’s radio show. And now you can download the MP3.

Further evidence that Robert Smith may be revving up for an active 2011: The son of bassist Simon Gallup posted on Facebook that he was in the studio with The Cure last week, news that lit up fan sites and forums over the weekend.

Three weeks ago, we launched the inaugural Slicing Up Eyeballs Readers Poll in an effort to gauge what this site’s frequenters think are the year’s best new albums and reissues. Now, with hundreds of ballots cast, the results are in.

The Cure dominates this year’s list of most-viewed stories, claiming five of the top 10 spots — including the No. 1 position, occupied for the second year in a row by our initial 2009 report on this year’s 3CD deluxe reissue of ‘Disintegration.’