Carnage. Nick Cave & Warren Ellis

Is there a future for The Bad Seeds or has Warren Ellis pushed all the other musicians out of that warm nest? 'Ghosteen' was attributed to The Bad Seeds but there hardly was a role there for most musicians. Strangely enough this could have been the other way around on Carnage. Some songs get a full band treatment with no Bad Seeds in sight.

Having come on board with Nick Cave only with 'Pushing The Sky Away', after abhorring him in the 1980s, with Carnage the now 60 something Cave has put me under his spell once again. I still can not listen to his album every moment of the day, but he's got me alright. With Carnage he scores four times in a row, and 'Dig! Lazarus! Dig! is there already in hindsight.

On Carnage Nick Cave and Warren Ellis present almost sacral music, like on 'Ghosteen'. Modern classic could almost be an appropriate term as well. This is music that is so serious, so profoundly deep that it goes to the core of being human. If being human means having the ability to invent stories, I'm quoting Yaval Noah Harari here, it also certainly means being able to write music to these stories and play that music on instruments. Music through the ages has been used to make stories, like religion, more clear, stronger and sacral, as music moves most humans more than anything else, besides profound shocks in life.

Nick Cave has had a shock of the kind no parent should have to live through. This shock has been put into music; what else when you're a musician. The kind of music that comforts, sustains, supports. Huge chunks of Carnage and 'Ghosteen' are church music for a secularised world.

I am only listening to Carnage for the first time and all this comes out. There's no stopping me as to how this music is touching me on different levels. It touches me musically, as I respond to the music on a primary level, to the beauty it contains. It touches me on a spiritual level, as it makes me think about well-being and state of mind. It touches me philosophically as it makes me realise what this music can stand for in the modern world.

I had to stop writing at this point. It's days and multiple listening sessions later. The world has to wait until 28 May for the album to be released physically. One thing is certain, I'll be on the doorstep, jabs and Covid lockdowns permitting. In my perception of Nick Cave, that of the late arrival to his career, on Carnage, together with Warren Ellis, he has done the impossible, topping 'Ghosteen'. Carnage is just as impressive but allows more of the world in. Was 'Ghosteen' the epitome of isolation, withdrawal and (soul)searching for a meaning where there's none to be found, Carnage also looks outside. As I already wrote, this should have been the band album. No matter how small that role would have been. Simply because it is more earthlike and solid in some places.

No matter how hard, it does look like Nick Cave was ready to embrace life again when he made this album. The result is a superior album that combines the subtlest of sounds with a little roughness going with his slowly advancing age. Carnage is nothing but extremely impressive.

Wo.

Listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g