Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus

2004-11-09

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are back with another disk....no wait, that's two disks!!! They are a set. The first is Abattoir, which is definitely the more rock 'n roll album of the two, and it really packs a punch! Unbridled gothic post-punk passion!!! At times I hear cynicism and joy radiating from the same songs, as he mocks the Western take on God and religion and yet yearns to discover God's will.

The second disk is a softer more carefully theatrical disc. It's also slightly more experimental in nature. The quest in Cave's songwriting seems to be "to explore his obsessions with religion, death, love, America and violence with a bizarre, sometimes self-consciously eclectic hybrid of blues, gospel, rock and arty post-punk"(allmusic.com). If you are familiar with Cave's work, you know that part already. The music making itself accentuates the passion and gritty focus of those obsessions.

Quick Links:

More reviews tagged #Rock

  • reviewed 03/2008

    Rustic Overtones
    Light at the End

  • reviewed 06/2007

    Ribbons of Song
    Comb My Cowlicks Down

  • reviewed 05/2016

    Hush Lane
    What Becomes of Us

  • reviewed 03/2005

    Everything But the Girl
    Adapt or Die - Ten Years of Remixes

  • reviewed 11/2013

    Lake Timber
    Platypus

  • reviewed 06/2016

    Death From Above 1979
    Live at Third Man Records

Compiled by the WYCE Journalism Club

The opinions expressed in these reviews are those of the individual volunteers that submitted the article and do not necessarily reflect the views of WYCE or GRCMC; nor its staff, donors, or affiliates.