Hi, everyone. Whythony Godtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Nick Cave album, Wild God.

Yes, here we have the latest full-length LP from legendary singer-singer songwriter, Mr. Nick Cave, who, with his famed backing band, The Bad Seeds, over the years has come out with about 20 albums, which run a gamut of styles from gothic rock and punk blues to big budget theatrical art rock, like in case of Dig, Lazarus, Dig.

But with Nick's most recent output, meaning pretty much everything he's done in the past 10 years or so, his music has taken an especially moody and impressionistic turn, which makes complete sense when you consider the context of his life around some of these records.

In recent years, Cave has had some pretty significant experiences with loss, with the deaths of not only two of his four sons, but friends also in the creative field. Plus, he himself is now living out the twilight years of his life, and in his music, as a result, is spending a lot of time reflecting. Yeah, he's been doing that for several albums now, but you could argue that Wild God is maybe the most revelatory record he has done since heading in this direction.

Not to say that I think it's his best, but there are some noticeable improvements. Some fans may prefer the overall brighter production and a more hopeful attitude of this album in comparison with an LP that is as dark as Skeleton Tree, or maybe one that is as slowly paced as Push the Sky Away. And as good as much of the songwriting on Ghosteen was, the mastering on that record was horrendous.

Thankfully, there's a lot more breathing room to be had in the mixes on Wild God, which is important, considering how good and ambitious a lot of the instrumentals on this record are, as there are some really impressive and beautiful orchestral touches on some of these tracks, as well as just gargantuan and gorgeous group vocal sections, which really bring home the gospel influences on a few of these tracks.

So, yeah, needless to say, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis just continue to make for an amazing production team. But when it comes to the lyrical content behind this album, to put it bluntly, NIck Cave is clearly a man who is dealing with a lot of loss and regret at this point in his life, vis-a-vis love or some of the darker moments in his past, family and loved ones, maybe years that he might have spent wallowing in more negative emotions like fear and hatred, which pretty much makes Wild God a come to Jesus moment quite literally at a few points.

I mean, there is a track on this record titled "Conversion", which for sure is one of the most powerful and compelling moments in this tracklist. But by that same token, the whole track sounds like Nick Cave conducting his own art rock baptism with a literal chorus of voices singing being, Oh, touched by the spirit. So, yeah, Nick Cave really is trying to conjure a spiritual experience here of sorts.

And that happens by way of moments where he's haunted by dreams or ghosts, even, like on "Joy", where he is seen by a ghost that is described as having big sneakers who's essentially like, Hey, man, even though all this horrible stuff is happening, death and all that, it's time for joy. And this is a prospect that Nick has very much sold on on the track, though, before all this, he's also like, Hey, it's half past midnight. Could you have done this at a time that's more convenient to my schedule? Joy is cool, but can we do this in the morning or when the sun is out?

Nick is also visited by God himself deeper into the record on the song "Long Dark Night", which is a phrase that is clearly employed for Nick to pretty much explore his own mortality on the track because he feels like this dream he's having where he's being visited by God is representative of the likelihood that the day that he goes to sleep and just doesn't wake up, it could be around the corner. It's also important to note that the chords and melodies on this track are very representative of an old spiritual.

Gospel vibes also return in a big way on the closing track too, though. That song feels more like a send-off than it does feel like a formal song, and that group chorus really does pull most of the way there. Either way, though, the flashy layers of stunning instrumentation across this record are pretty fantastic. In fact, I would say they're the real hero of the album, especially when they provide massive payoff following tedious meandering songs that don't really have a whole lot of structure to them, at least at the start.

In this respect, a lot of the writing on Wild God shares quite a bit in common with Nick's past three records. But at least now with this record, as Nick is ghoulishly crooning his way through these religious epiphanies, we eventually get pummeled with these gorgeous massive crescendos and bursts of instrumentation that provide at least a bit of finality, be it through, again, on the song "Conversion" or on the theatrical rock opera-sized finish of the title track, or even with the soaring string sections that top off "Frogs".

Still, though, there are some tracks that don't come to as strong a conclusion, and I feel like just a larger finish most definitely could have helped things along, be that on "Final Rescue Attempt" or "Cinnamon Horses". But also digging a layer deeper than the many religious themes throughout this record, I feel like more than spiritual solace, Nick is also searching for some connection, too, and just a way to quell the fears of his eventual passing.

To go back to the title track again, the narrative on this track features a God that is pretty much in search of a congregation to speak the truth to. And this track obviously has really massive religious overtones to it. But this story could also serve as an allegory for somebody who is in search of their community or their crowd. Then toward the end of the record, we have a beautiful ode to the late songwriter and Nick Cave collaborator, Anita Lane, whose voice is featured in a really touching, poetic voicemail toward the end of the track. And again, the song is a beautiful and moving and poetic description of Cave's perception of her, of his feelings for her.

But what looms much larger than that is just the feeling that fuels this track, that Nick is longing for something, a feeling or a connection that I think he knows that despite all of his efforts, all of his searching just may be gone. Like, he'll never get something like that back again. I think it's actually massive and really speaks to what is really fueling this album that this track, which is really like the last final complete songwriting thought of the record as, again, the closing track is really more of a send off. But yeah, this track and "Long Dark Night" are like the two closing statements of the record.

Again, you have to wonder, is Nick genuinely having some real, authentic, religious, profound realization here, or is he just merely fearing death? In that sense, I feel like the record is lacking a bit of self-awareness because he's not exactly being upfront about that. Even with the opening track, "Song of the Lake", being as meta as it is, as the track is about a man who is very clearly a fill-in for Nick, who is watching a woman bathe in a lake and his options are either go follow her into the lake and dissolve into it or just see his eventual death anyway on the shore of the lake.

Then later into the track, it is said that, "For every evil under the sun / If there be one, seek it till you find / For there's either a remedy or there is none / And if there is none, never mind, never mind." He also describes being in heaven in these moments, but simultaneously feeling hell pulling at him and what is the solution to this. I mean, if the tracks to follow this one are any indication, clearly the solution for him in this moment must be to just find God, which there's nothing wrong with inherently, but I feel like the way he's going about it on this record, it just comes off as very performative and like he's desperate to convince. There is a universal relatability to this album in a way, because none of us are going to be on this planet forever.

But still, even with that being said, there's something about Nick's writing and performance on this record that being as familiar with all of his older material as I am just feels a little bit, again, performative, like I'm being sold on something, which in actuality I may not be, but it still comes across that way.

Keep in mind, though, I wouldn't say this disconnect makes the album unenjoyable or anything like that. I mean, the production is amazing. The majority of the songs on here are quite good. Nick's vocal performances are very compelling and moving.

I mean, sure, thematically and conceptually, the record could have felt maybe a bit less half baked, and several of the song structures among these nine tracks could have been filled out a bit more, which is why I'm feeling a decent 7 on it.

Anthony Fantano. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Forever.