The new Nick Cave album is kinda dark. It was always expected, of course, with the tragic death of one of Nick Cave's sons last year. It's however never overly depressive like David Bowie's horribly depressive last album "Blackstar" [2016] was.
"Skeleton Tree" is mostly just rather monotonous, and well, kinda boring. To even call it a Bad Seeds album, is a bit of a stretch. It basically sounds like a Cave and Ellis album. It sounds like the other soundtrack albums, Cave and Ellis have already done plenty of. They are great at making soundtrack albums, but the music functions best, as background music for movies. This album is just another one of those soundtracks, only with lyrics this time. It's kinda hard to find something like a melody on this album. It's mostly soundscapes and loops and all of it is rather quiet and partly lifeless.
I'm not going to watch the new movie "One More Time With Feeling" to share Nick's mourning and the making of this album, but it is very understandable that it hasn't been easy, and I can easily forgive a sub-par album from Mr. Cave. It was pretty much what I had expected anyway, given the horrible circumstances, so I'm not disappointed at all. I just hope, it has helped him process some of it all.
It's impossible to highlight much on this album. I guess my favorite is "Rings of Saturn", a song that also kinda annoys me, but mostly in a good way. The title track is a pretty good little song too. Other than that, there is really nothing much to remember.
The CD came without lyrics, which is too bad. I won't buy the LP, because it wouldn't get any playtime in this home anyways.
Rating: 
Band: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Record Title: Skeleton Tree
This Release: 2016
Record Format: CD
Record Label: Bad Seeds
Content Type: Record Review
Language: 
Updated: 2016-09-16 21:22
Created: 2016-09-16 21:11
