Last year's Grinderman was promised to be a rock 'n' roll Nick Cave. And fittingly so. Cave abandoned his name on the marquee, stripped down the Bad Seeds to just a couple other guys, and forged ahead into a noisy, three-chord territory. But the simplicity of rock 'n' roll got muddled with something that seemed like extreme minimalism in comparison to the bombast and gospel choirs on his last effort, Abbatoir Blues & the Lyre of Orpheus. This year's Bad Seeds effort, however, makes up for the half-baked Grinderman. [more]