The fourteenth studio album from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, and all apparently risen from Cave’s church-spawned childhood dilemma – What would Lazarus have thought of being brought back from the dead? Well, if Lazarus himself had been this feisty the Bible might have been a very different book!

Aficionados of the traditional Bad Seeds' complex narrative, curious to the effects of their newly administered guitar injections, will certainly be resisting the grave to get their hands on this slice of fresh from the garage, pseudo-blues.

Title track ‘Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!’ lays a solid foundation for all that is to come, slithering from the clear cut to the complex, assimilating stringed sonic onslaughts and newly adopted static spikes, embracing the familiar driving bass and staying always in musical mimicry of Cave’s

impassioned narrative. ‘Moonland’ strays close to the borders of funk, persisting foreground bass and soulful vocal echoes combining to grind-able effect. From the deranged, ‘Crazy Horses’ guitar of ‘Lie Down Here (And Be My Girl)’ to the dread-ridden, stalking static of ‘Night of the Lotus Eaters’, ‘Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!’ explores the dank and dirty imaginings with just a touch more flourish than the albums come before.

Grinderman shuffled slightly to one side for the time being, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are one of those peculiarly self-perpetuating phenomena. A collection of artists who become that little bit more ‘themselves’ with every release. This is not to say that ‘Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!’ is in any way a pastiche, or that it doesn’t test any new ground, simply that it nestles predictably in to the ‘Nick Cave evolutionary tree’. Ok, this may not be an experimental masterpiece and the return to familiar avant-rock may seem a little defensive, but this does not in any way diminish the quality of this offering. After all, nestling predictability within the parameters of genius is perhaps not something to be too concerned about…

Review by Carla Washborne
www.nickcaveandthebadseeds.com / www.mute.com