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10.0
89947
10.0 |
Evening Standard
By any yardstick, Skeleton Tree is a staggering achievement, the one for which Nick Cave will always be remembered
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10.0
89948
10.0 |
The FT
Skeleton Tree is an aesthetically striking and emotionally powerful act of mourning, an ornately crafted accommodation between life and death
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10.0
89950
10.0 |
NME
This is not an album for the rest of us; it’s a reflex reaction to a torment most people will thankfully never have to endure
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10.0
89957
10.0 |
The Independent
There is no theatrical swagger here; his experience of bereavement is blisteringly undiluted
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10.0
90033
10.0 |
Gig Soup
‘Skeleton Tree’ falls in with past albums such as ‘No More Shall We Part’ and ‘Nocturama’ but with a soul bearing intensity to make the hair on the back of your neck stand on end
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10.0
90046
10.0 |
musicOMH
From an unspeakable event a remarkable record has come. One that sits amongst Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ best. Skeleton Tree is full of grief, but full of heart too
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10.0
90079
10.0 |
The Guardian
It will prove scant consolation to the singer that the worst kind of trauma has produced a piece of art that will surely prove unforgettable to all who hear it
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10.0
90154
10.0 |
No Ripcord
Ultimately, Skeleton Tree is the sound of feeling and not expressing sorrow. It’s something unexplainable, a feeling you can’t quite place into words when you’re still decompressing
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10.0
90204
10.0 |
Crack
What is mined here is an exhaustive yet cathartic coalescence of one of the toughest human emotions as musical art. An astounding achievement
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10.0
90419
10.0 |
Mojo
Audibly and obviously, Cave's faith has been sorely tested but not ditched. Print edition only
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10.0
90843
10.0 |
State
Skeleton Tree is concise, direct and at all times a deeply moving yet essential and enriching listen, without question one of the best records of 2016
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10.0
91098
10.0 |
Q
It demands you sit with it, look it in the eye, yet never come too close. Print edition only
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9.4
89951
9.4 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
This stands as possibly his greatest achievement, as much a sorrowful exploration as a loving sendoff only for his fans, but more importantly, for himself
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9.0
89974
9.0 |
Slant Magazine
At once Cave's darkest, most emotionally devastating work to date, and his most painfully vulnerable
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9.0
90004
9.0 |
Clash
A stark, beautiful rendering of deep, profound pain
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9.0
90047
9.0 |
Pitchfork
Nick Cave has always played with death. Now, he confronts it.
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9.0
90012
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
Makes the important point that grief isn’t something that can be easily eradicated, but rather, eventually, it can be wrangled down in a way that makes it possible to keep living
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9.0
90055
9.0 |
Spectrum Culture
By far the darkest album in an oeuvre of base impulses
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9.0
91440
9.0 |
Uncut
Another deeply personal album with the singer addressing love and pain. Print edition only
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9.0
90516
9.0 |
The 405
Whether we want to explore grief or learn to live with it, Skeleton Tree provides a sagacious guidebook
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9.0
90215
9.0 |
AU Review
A beautiful album that is somehow classic Cave and yet not
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9.0
90108
9.0 |
The Quietus
Skeleton Tree and the film have become statements about grief, loss and the potential and failure of art, but in the brutal honesty of broken emotion there's a promise to anyone who hasn't yet lost a close family member just how impossible that is going to be
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8.5
90165
8.5 |
The Line Of Best Fit
An album brimming with loss, death, and ruminations on mortality, but also Cave’s inimitable character portraits and a chilling sonic palate
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8.5
90900
8.5 |
Under The Radar
Its emotional impact hits like a ton of bricks
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8.5
90064
8.5 |
Earbuddy
A devastating triumph and deserves to be heard
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8.3
90049
8.3 |
Consequence Of Sound
As an artist, he needed to release the record in just this way in order to process his pain. Skeleton Tree was released for us, but it’s for him
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8.0
90071
8.0 |
NOW
On much of Skeleton Tree, it sounds as though the Bad Seeds are doing their best to stay out of their frontman's way. It's an album of pure, direct emotion
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8.0
89946
8.0 |
The Observer
The songs are sometimes more atmospheric than linear, more unanchored, as befits the subject matter
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8.0
90008
8.0 |
The Skinny
The songs on Skeleton Key have the quality of a recurring dream – that is, full of Cave’s darkly sensual surrealism, but possessing also a sense of fragile fixity and irresolution
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8.0
90011
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
Approach it as a one-off and it’s a courageous and magnificent, if flawed, work of art
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8.0
89952
8.0 |
Rolling Stone
Musically, the record is uniformly and unusually sparse, dwelling in deep, bassy tones
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8.0
89949
8.0 |
All Music
Even by Cave's dour standards, Skeleton Tree is a tough listen, but it's also a powerful and revealing one, and a singular work from a one-of-a-kind artist
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8.0
90251
8.0 |
DIY
Nick Cave’s lyrics have always dealt with love and grief - on ‘Skeleton Tree’ they’re more pronounced than ever
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8.0
90094
8.0 |
Beardfood
A document of personal love and loss that will leave no one untouched
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7.0
90088
7.0 |
Drowned In Sound
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
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6.0
89981
6.0 |
The Arts Desk
Skeleton Tree is definitely the real thing and a more brutally honest reflection of the worst of possible times would be a rare find
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