Carnagerelease date: Feb. 25, 2021
format: digital (8 x File, MP3)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
label: Goliath Records - nationality: Australia
Track highlights: 1. "Hand of God" - 2. "Old Time" - 3. "Carnage" - 4. "White Elephant" - 6. "Lavender Fields" - 7. "Shattered Ground" - 8. "Balcony Man"
First actual duo-project credited Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, long time collaborators in Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, who most recently released Ghosteen in 2019. However, since 2005 when they made music for the performance "Woyzech", they have co-written music for a large number of performances and films - which are also available as soundtrack releases. Ellis has been a member of The Bad Seeds since the '97 album The Boatman's Call, but has featured on the band's albums since '92, and his role in the band has only grown over time. In '97 he had a minor part playing violin and keyboards as 'extra spice' to the band's sound, from the 2001 album No More Shall We Part he was also credited some compositions, from the 2008 album Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! he is a distinctive composer and multi-instrumentalist, and from Push the Sky Away in 2013 he is now credited as composer along with Cave on all tracks, and thus the musical center of the band has shifted to being exclusively a pair collaboration in recent years, with Cave providing lyrics and Ellis supplementing with music. Therefore, the album here is not a huge surprise, since this is how they have worked on their recent three studio albums. The music with The Bad Seeds has thus transformed over the years from being alt. rock towards an increased focus on Cave's lyrics to being a kind of poetic recitations with evocative background music.
On Push the Sky Away you'll notice percussion, bass, and guitar, but it's with instrumentation such as violin, cello, and keyboards as the main sound sources, and there's a stylistic interference with elements from jazz, Tindersticks, and something reminiscent of Tom Waits' experimental style. This new and more naked soundscape becomes even more evident on Skeleton Tree, and with Ghosteen the rhythmic element is now completely absent, replaced by Cave's insistent vocal and Ellis's keyboards as spheric tapestry.
On Carnage you'll find a progression towards more complex compositions, where guitar, bass, and percussion are occasionally heard - mostly on "Old Time". In that way it sounds more like the continuation of Skeleton Tree rather than Ghosteen, but most of all it's a new chapter in the book of human pain, sorrow, and suffering as experienced by Nick Cave. From being a direct dramatic writer who told about crooked existences and people living in the shadows of society, Cave has grown over the past decade into a more lyrical playwright who talks about existential aspects of life and death.
The album has been met by positive reviews - but that's nearly always how it works for Cave. He is, if anything, a critics' darling, and the album has landed several international top-10 positions, including number #2 in Australia, number #3 in the UK, Belgium and in the Netherlands, number #5 in Germany, and a number #1 position in Scotland and Portugal.
It's a nice and fine acquaintance without fillers but perhaps also the slightly expected release. However, the music is good, the lyrics compelling and the level high. It's an album that wins over time because Cave and Ellis are just great together.
Recommended.
