KUOI exclusive CD cover art by R. Blow.
While it’s certainly not the, “spinal cord of JFK wrapped in Marilyn Monroe’s negligee,” the new Grinderman is undoubtedly a heavy rock hit.
If you were fearing that these aging paragons of rock might not be the best vessels of seriously sleazy, hotted-up heavy rock, worry not. Nick Cave sings that he wants to put his fingers in your biscuit jar in “Kitchenette”. You’ll feel dirty, guaranteed. But it’s not all sleaze.
This is a more refined and “serious” affair musically then its predecessor, for better or for worse. The insane level of competence all these musicians share is put on display and the songs are well crafted, heavy, and well within the rock standard. While the album may lack sonic experimentation, there is no lack of personality in the songs. The official video for “Heathen Child“, for example, is one of the weirdest, least mature things I’ve seen all year.
Ginderman 2’s fault, if any, is that it’s top-heavy. The first five tracks carry the driving force of the album while the last few present mostly fluff, with the exception of one completely out-of-place but not unwelcome song “Palaces of Montezuma”. Songs like “Worm Tamer”, “Heathen Child” and “When My Baby Comes” are undoubtedly the best on the album and they’re also all back to back on the A side. There’s really not much left for the end of the album and sure enough “Bellringer Blues”, the last track, is very much a letdown.
But this letdown in album sequencing only serves to highlight how much of a delight those highs are. Even at its dullest, Grinderman 2 is more interesting than the bulk of contemporary rock, and at its most exciting the blinding-hot rock is all-encompassing.
KUOI Blog 