Album Review: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Wild God
2 min read
Legendary group Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, led by the aforementioned singer and poet, have carved a forty-year career off the back of countless timeless hits, including Into My Arms and O Children. Their eighteenth studio album sees them return after a five-year hiatus, the only exception being Cave’s solo performance at Alexandra Palace in 2020. With a mix of powerful ballads and exhilarating full-band track, Wild God is an album not to be taken lightly.
Song Of The Lake wastes no time, beginning instantly and descending into the spoken word verse remarkably quickly. It gives the track an immediate emotional weight, the backing choir mixed with Cave’s voice have a resonance that feels nostalgic with very little behind them. Wild God and Frogs take more time to build, the latter revolving around a siren-esc lead line and a walking bass line, followed excellently by the drums. Joy is the first calmer moment on the record, a low-level brass and glistening synth laying the bedrock for Cave’s mournful lamenting. At its core, the song is about finding joy again in a world where ‘all across the world they shout their angry words’, and that despite this ‘…the stars stand above the Earth; bright, triumphant metaphors of love’. It’s a powerful message relayed in a beautiful package.
Final Rescue Attempt and Conversion follow a similarly atmospheric approach, the latter transitioning half way through into a more grandiose drum-led passage, complete with the familiar choir and distorted bass. Cinnamon Horses is another empowered ballad, the backing vocals providing a fantastic counterpoint to Cave’s emotionally raw delivery. Long Dark Night is a beautiful piano tune that leans into Cave’s more religious attributes, talking of being lost in a dream but being found by ‘a flying man with long trailing hair’. O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is) is a playful love song, with humorously endearing lyrics and a mix of interesting instrumental elements that make it a standout track. Final track As The Waters Cover The Sea ends the record on a soft, ambient note, that suites the Psalm of a poem that Cave sings passionately along with the ever-present choir.
Wild God is an ambitious monster of an album, showing off Nick’s poetry in its best light. The highs are magnificent, the lows are transcendent. There’s not a dull moment throughout, and it’s a testament to Nick and the band that even eighteen albums in they can still create magic.
Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.
