Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! Out Today!!! -In Europe

Today marks the European release of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds' latest effort, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!. The album is the 14th studio release of a band whose career has been anything but static. While this hasn't always pleased longtime fans, it has, if nothing else, kept the man refreshing and relevant. I wanted to give the record a couple of weeks and plenty of listens before reviewing it, so I decided today was as fitting a day as any.

The album was expected to be, at least somewhat, tinted by Grinderman. While tracks like "Today's Lesson" and "Albert Goes West" sound like a more refined Grinderman, there are the familiar narrative tracks like "Night Of The Lotus Eaters" that hearken back the early days of the Bad Seeds, though in a more muted form. Conway Savage's familiar piano and rapturous organ as well as the searing violin of Warren Ellis are as present as at any time over the past decade. While the album seems to lack the complete cohesiveness of many of the past Bad Seeds' records for me, the record is still quite solid. Whereas many longtime fans find the band's Nocturama record as a definite low point, they will be glad to know that this is no Nocturama.

For American fans that don't want to shell out the extra cash to order the import, the entire album is currently steaming over at MySpace.

Tracks to check out:
Today's Lesson
Albert Goes West
Hold On To Yourself
Jesus Of The Moon

Website | MySpace