Review Summary: ...
“I woke up this morning and I thought what am I doing here?”
As Nick Cave splutters these first words over a menacing bass line and effect-laden guitar, you know this isn’t going to be the tongue-in-cheek slice of garage rock of their debut album. Almost instantaneously the mood is set. This album is going to be something sinister, and something much darker than its predecessor.
At just 9 songs, this album has no room for filler, and each song is a triumph. The album is full of moments worthy of standing up to anything from Nick Cave’s celebrated career thus far. From the full throttle ‘Evil’ in which Nick Cave cries ‘You are my child! Crying like a demon in your daddy’s arms’ over a chugging drum beat and distorted guitars, to the more gentle and affectionate ‘Palaces of Montezuma’, full of heart-warming harmonies and acoustic guitars. However even this song chills more than it warms, as Cave sings ‘The spinal cord of JFK, wrapped up in Marilyn Monroe’s negligee, I give to you’. Instead of the softer, more virtuoso side of Nick Cave, with deep, meaningful lyrics and beautiful piano, Grinderman 2 offers something different to his fans, an ominous energetic wig-out, full of slow, psychedelic melodies, tantalising bluesy riffs, over-driven guitars and disturbing lyrics. ‘Bellringer Blues’ might be the most psychedelic Cave has ever gotten, with its drone-like riff, sluggish tempo-changes and backwards guitar flitting around the speakers.
The screeching guitars and full, chaotic instrumentation is possibly the best thing about this album, and Warren Ellis really outdoes himself on songs like ‘When My Baby Comes’ which breaks down about 3 minutes in and falls almost clumsily into a steady groove, whilst Ellis lets loose with his trademark screaming violin and guitar, before the song slows further into a psychedelic haze, with mouth-watering riffs forcing you to nod your head to the beat. However the album still maintains the ridiculous, ‘in your face’ sex appeal of the first album with lines like ‘Well my baby calls me the Loch Ness monster, two great big humps and then I’m gone’.
Grinderman 2 is a fantastic garage rock album, with hard-hitting tracks like the opener ‘Mickey Mouse and the Goodbye Man’, and slower, tender songs like ‘What I Know’. At 9 tracks and 40 minutes this album is the perfect size, never overstaying its welcome and never letting you stop giving it your undivided attention. An exciting and frightening experience and one of the best out and out rock albums of Cave’s career.
TOP TRACK: Palaces of Montezuma
