Anthony Richard

Underwhelming, derivative and criminally bland, it’s as if we’ve lost all objectivity when it comes to Nick Cave. I mean take other artists. Leonard Cohen, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan for instance have all had the occasional acknowledged shocker. A bad record that forces them to recalibrate, take stock and return with a masterpiece. But not Nick. In the eyes of the critics everything he produces is a "masterpiece" and it's to his detriment. Because this album is awful. From the terrible mastering to the forced gospel, it’s that bad. Nick and the critics say it’s uplifting and about joy, but if it’s about joy it’s a fake joy. A forced and medicated joy. Take out the vocals and “Song of the Lake” is akin something you’d hear in a department store at Christmas time. And “Wow O Wow” sounds like something from an amateur theatre production. You can almost imagine Nick treading the boards dressed as a tramp winking to the kids in the front row. “As the Waters Cover the Sea” is the weakest and most anticlimactical conclusion to an album as I can recall and the whole “Touched by the Spirit/ Bring Your Spirit down” nonsense on Conversion and Wild God is just tedious. The Bad Seeds did gospel on Abattoir Blues and it was amazing. This pales in comparison. In my view, the only tracks worth mentioning are Final Rescue Attempt and Long Dark Night. These are good. Cave achieved something astonishing with Ghosteen but he and Ellis are in neutral here. Wild God is a lazy album. A Hallmark album. Sweet, harmless and forgettable. The worst things a Bad Seeds album can be.