Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Album Review - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
[Mute; 04/03/2008]


Australia’s God amongst men has created his fair share of modern musical masterpieces, but unlike many of his rivals, Nick Cave is hell-bent on simply ‘creating’. Yet again, those early mornings of trudging to his office in Brighton & Hove have given the ever receding ex-punk more lease of life - this time with the unbridled menace that is Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!

‘We Called Upon the Author’ is vintage Cave, with his unique vocal delivery transforming into a rant follow by a chorus of instrumentation ala ‘Baby I’m Fire’. ‘Hold On To Yourself’ slows the tempo down and is as superior as anything No More Shall We Part had to offer, while the rigid sounds of the ‘Night Of the Lotus Eaters’ will have you squirming out of your seat. In contrast to the latter, the closing ‘No Tears from Nowhere’ is one of the most accessible pieces the band has written, yet is still bound together with the band’s idiosyncratic qualities.

Sound wise, Nick Cave has created something that’s somewhere in between the foul mouthed, feedback driven clamor that is the Grinderman, and the subtle heart wrenching ups and downs of his previous collaborations with the Bad Seeds. Lyrically, it’s yet another idea that his fellow contemporaries could only dream upon conjuring up, but that’s the nature of the beast; always one step ahead.

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! signifies Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds shattering more of their boundaries, which is hardly surprising, seeming as though they’ve been doing it since day one. You can’t teach the old dog new tricks. In this case, it’s for the better and not the worse.


By Simon

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