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Skeleton Tree Image
Metascore
95

Universal acclaim - based on 36 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 387 Ratings

  • Summary: Nick Cave's 15-year-old son died in an accident while he was working on the alternative rock band's 16th album. The recording sessions were filmed for Andrew Dominik's documentary, One More Time With Feel.
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  • Record Label: Bad Seeds Ltd.
  • Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter, Post-Punk
  • More Details and Credits »

Top Track

I Need You
When you're feeling like a lover Nothing really matters anymore I saw you standing there in the supermarket With your red dressing falling And your... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 36 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 36
  3. Negative: 0 out of 36
  1. Sep 9, 2016
    100
    It’s a record of unusual rawness, honesty and intensity.
  2. 100
    From the first note to the last, you’re transported back to a time you lost someone close to you and then retrace the path you traveled as you dealt with it. I doubt this album inspires anyone to pick up a guitar or start a band and the experience it details is too personal to inspire other bands to make a similar album. But, if this isn’t a masterpiece... I don’t know what it is.
  3. Oct 24, 2016
    100
    Skeleton Tree is a testament to his art, his flaying honesty and his persistence in the wake of devastating loss.
  4. Sep 14, 2016
    90
    This great unknowing serves as the album’s guiding principle. In Cave’s wounded voice, you hear him grapple in real-time with the incidental prophecies of his lyrics and his need to get the job done.
  5. Sep 16, 2016
    88
    The album peaks in its second half, with a series of songs in which Cave doesn't just again walk the narrow line between love and death, but ponders whether "nothing really matters anymore."
  6. 80
    The trademark stridency of “Red Right Hand” or even “Mr Clarinet” is replaced with an altogether more measured and restrained vocal style, and the overall tone of Skeleton Tree is less abrasively didactic one than that of its fifteen predecessors.
  7. Sep 16, 2016
    70
    Whatever one makes of the songs presented here, at least we should all be able to agree that another addition to Cave’s legendary, beyond comparison catalogue is in itself enough of a reason to feel very satisfied.

See all 36 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 33
  2. Negative: 3 out of 33
  1. Sep 9, 2016
    10
    Heartbreaking, emotional album. It's one of his most finest creations, if not his best one so far. "Skeleton Tree" is far more deep thanHeartbreaking, emotional album. It's one of his most finest creations, if not his best one so far. "Skeleton Tree" is far more deep than Boatman's Call or even No More Shall We Part. There is a lot of intimacy on this record.
    Album of the year for me.
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  2. Sep 16, 2016
    10
    One of the most heartbreaking, suffered, painful album I've heard. The lyrics so intense and emotional make eveything more and moreOne of the most heartbreaking, suffered, painful album I've heard. The lyrics so intense and emotional make eveything more and more devastating. A great piece of art Expand
  3. Oct 15, 2016
    10
    "Skeleton Tree", probably the most emotional set of songs that I've heard this year. Nick Cave has recorded and released it in a different way"Skeleton Tree", probably the most emotional set of songs that I've heard this year. Nick Cave has recorded and released it in a different way .. Read More http://muztravel.by/news/859-skeleton-tree-i-8-pesen-nika-keyva-i-the-bad-seeds.html
    "Skeleton Tree”, вероятно, самый эмоциональный набор песен, который я слышал в этом году. Ник Кейв записал и выпустил его по-другому.
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  4. Sep 9, 2016
    10
    It's like a Franz Kafka novel with melody. Painfully beautiful. It's sad such a devastating event had to take place for this but it did giveIt's like a Franz Kafka novel with melody. Painfully beautiful. It's sad such a devastating event had to take place for this but it did give us a true masterpiece. Expand
  5. Sep 9, 2016
    8
    Unlike anything released in this entire decade so far, for it serves as a painful reminder of the inevitability of death, yet does so in aUnlike anything released in this entire decade so far, for it serves as a painful reminder of the inevitability of death, yet does so in a seamlessly beautiful and haunting fashion. Absolutely breathtaking. Expand
  6. Sep 28, 2016
    7
    This will rank very high in my list of this year's most overrated albums.
    A very moderate Nick Cave album is still not bad at all of course.
    This will rank very high in my list of this year's most overrated albums.
    A very moderate Nick Cave album is still not bad at all of course.
    Okay, losing your 15 year old son is truly heartbreaking, but does this make Skeleton Tree a masterpiece: no no no it does not.
    Expand
  7. Sep 25, 2016
    0
    Could not even get through the first track. I absolutely hated this garbage. Way too much whining in the tracks. Spend your money on an albumCould not even get through the first track. I absolutely hated this garbage. Way too much whining in the tracks. Spend your money on an album that doesnt suck so hard Expand

See all 33 User Reviews

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