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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Grinderman
by Grinderman


8.4

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 32 votes
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Rate this album

MUSIC:

Grinderman @ MySpace

This self-titled disc is the first release for the new project from Nick Cave, who adds "guitar player" to his CV. Seeing as how most of the Bad Seeds join in as well, we're still not sure why the new name was necessary. (Actually, it sounds even more like their earlier band, The Birthday Party.)

LABEL:	Anti-
RELEASE DATE:	10 April 2007
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Alternative, Rock

NOTES: UK release 5 Mar 2007.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

BBC collective

This is not a bunch of old blokes looking to recapture their youth; rather, Grinderman sounds like a freshly hewn and rudely vigorous chunk of leftfield rock.

musicOMH.com

This being Cave, classy lyrical dexterity is never far away. But here the fire and brimstone preacher is a little less po-faced than much of his back catalogue, allowing humour (still black as coal) to gain the upper hand.

Playlouder

There isn't a bad song on this album.

Urb

An album more raw than an infected, 10-day-old open head wound. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Alternative Press

11 tracks that scorch the earth lesser bands traipse on. [May 2007, p.150]

Stylus Magazine

It’s mostly top-flight crudity, though admittedly the album’s intensity wanes over its second half.

Entertainment Weekly

This is some of the singer's rawest music since he fronted the Birthday Party. [13 Apr 2007, p.72]

ShakingThrough.net

Grinderman might actually be Cave’s sappy hopeless romantic testament. That he accomplishes it without orchestral arrangements and mopey strings is truly impressive.

Blender

A riot of black humor, sex mania and mean-eyed, chaotic rock.

Hartford Courant

Cave comes on strong and rejuvenated.

Lost At Sea

The album is loud, visceral, and messily human, and should be regarded as an essential chapter in Cave's considerable discography.

The New York Times

It sounds terrific, in a turbulent fashion. [9 Apr 2007]

All Music Guide

While the sound of pure snarl and glee is what melts the speaker cabinets the most, the overdriven menace of most these songs doesn't undermine their worth as songs.

NOW Magazine

Once our boy Nick begins his bellicose bellowing, there's no mistaking Grinderman's amped-up scorch for anything but another of Cave's darkly humorous creations of magnificent malevolence. Long may he howl and snort.

Drowned In Sound

There’s a rawness to this record that most new bands – sorry, most bands made up of new musicians – would do well to soak up.

Dot Music

Ultimately, Grinderman is just a way for Cave to release more music.

Spin

The result is one of Cave's hardest-rocking records, but also one of his funniest. [Apr 2007, p.86]

Uncut

The Grinderman hat seems to have tilted the basic Bad Seeds stance brilliantly on its side, bringing out a new humour and a grumpy-old-rocker gravitas. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Delusions of Adequacy

Arguably [Cave's] most convincing collection of boisterousness and drama since 1994’s Let Love In.

Mojo

There's a sense of going too far, of antic hilarity tipping into something more revealing. [Apr 2007, p.104]

Observer Music Monthly

This is mostly a brutal-sounding, and often brutally funny, record full of odd surprises.

The Guardian

[A] witty, wild and impressive return to his past.

Austin Chronicle

Grinderman is in no way a conventional comedy album, but an accomplished cocksman like Nick Cave howling the "No Pussy Blues" is pretty damn funny anytime.

Pitchfork

Grinderman may be intended as a somewhat goofy reassertion of punk vigor and virility, but the disc is no laughing matter.

PopMatters

Review #1 (score=80): Grinderman makes a freer, looser racket than the Bad Seeds, and at times sound like their hairier, rougher alter-ego.; Review #2 (score=70): Grinderman is fresh and invigorating, possibly Nick Cave’s funniest, and unusually for a side project, one of his least self-indulgent.

The Onion (A.V. Club)

A thorough reminder of what's majestic, funny, bizarre, and poetic about Cave.

Paste Magazine

While Grinderman's rough-and-tumble democracy makes for an exciting, illicit affair, it's only that: a gorgeous bit of rough trade to scratch that seven-year itch. [May 2007, p.62]

Billboard

It may not pick up many new fans or even appeal to those beyond Cave's core audience, but these guys sound like they're having too much fun to care. [14 Apr 2007]

Under The Radar

Grinderman is easily the sexiest thing he’s done in the past decade. [#17, p.85]

Dusted Magazine

Grinderman is as refreshing, bracing and absurd as the Birthday Party were when they blew onto the scene with their Old Testament zeal.

New Musical Express

'Grinderman' is an almost defiantly edgy record.

Q Magazine

You sense that once this entertaining diversion is done, it will be back to the real business. [Apr 2007, p.112]

cokemachineglow

Grinderman isn’t angry and it isn’t raw, just a careful concoction of licentiousness and braying disdain ultimately monotonous and unexciting after the first four cuts.

The average user rating for this album is 8.4 (out of 10) based on 32 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Brendan D gave it a9:
Every so often, rock music should be able to scare people. Once in awhile, the music should also be really dirty, full of weird phrases and subversive content (think "White Light/White Heat"). "Grinderman" is exactly that kind of album, and it's effing disgusting. It's the grossest album Nick Cave has put together since the Bad Seeds' "Murder Ballads" in '96. It also happens to be the funniest. While Cave has been honing his admittedly grand auteur status for the last decade, putting out album after album of darkly beautiful semi-classical music (such as the absolutely gut-wrenching "No More Shall We Part"), many old-school Cave fans like myself were left wondering if he'd ever get back to his Birthday Party roots, crafting music to puke to. Grinderman is that record. Listen to "No Pussy Blues" while your kids aren't around. Turn it up to full volume. And when Cave shouts out the title lyric at the end before going into a completely absurd guitar solo of pure Metal Machine Music noise, jump around, run into walls, bash your head on the living room coffee table, take a baseball bat and smash your china cabinet -- do something ridiculous and violent. 'Cause that's the only thing this music is good for. And frankly, that's pretty fucking awesome.

Shawn B gave it a9:
Best thing I've heard in a long time.

Perspicacious Critic gave it an8:
Grinderman is PJ Harvey with testosterone.

Ted J gave it a9:
Grinderman is amazingly dirty, sexy, and dangerous rock. It has a bit of everything, too: the first two tracks, "Get It On" and "No Pussy Blues" is all tension, distortion, sneering vocals, and nasty attitude. Rave-ups like "Depth Charge Ethel" and the amazing "Honey Bee (Let's Fly to Mars)" chug with purpose. Surprisingly mellow tracks like "Grinderman" and "Electric Alice" are a welcome respite from the dirt and sex. And, the last song, "Love Bomb" recalls the Stooges with its Funhouse beat and bluesy riffing. This definitely isn't for casual music listeners... it's too abrasive and obscure in its references to be immediately accessible. It's not as dark or as confrontational as the Birthday Party, and it doesn't sound much like Cave's work with the Bad Seeds... Grinderman is its own monster, and I really hope Cave and Co. keep it alive.

Alex Ch gave it a10:
Best album of this year!

NUNO V gave it a10:
Bac to good old times Mr. Cave.Thxs.

Tom M gave it a10:
Bought it on Firday. Listened to it 15 times in a row and haven't listened to anything else all weekend.

Grinderman by Grinderman

Grinderman
by Grinderman