Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds — Abbatoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus

If ever a man was destined to record an epic double album, it was Nick Cave. The veteran poet/madman's themes have been getting steadily larger since he found God sometime last decade and on this two-faced opus they finally reach Biblical proportions. Even the good book could've used a little editing, however, and while Abbatoir Blues — supposedly the raucous, brimstone-sung half of the collection — is a solid set, the slightly more subdued Orpheus stumbles, particularly when Cave overuses his new female choir, which hints too strongly at Future-era Leonard Cohen. Plus, while the dichotomy is a nice idea and Cave's lyrics are as ripe as ever, there's not enough separating the two discs musically to truly warrant the double-identity treatment.

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