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Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Grinderman
Universal acclaim
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 35 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Anti-
Release Date: 10 April 2007
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Alternative, Rock
Summary
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.)
Also On Metacritic
MUSIC: Nick Cave: Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus Nick Cave: B-Sides & Rarities Nick Cave: No More Shall We Part Nick Cave: Nocturama
Also On The Web: Grinderman @ MySpace
What The Critics Said
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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Lost At Sea
The album is loud, visceral, and messily human, and should be regarded as an essential chapter in Cave's considerable discography.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Grinderman may be intended as a somewhat goofy reassertion of punk vigor and virility, but the disc is no laughing matter.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 35 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.
