10 Best Genre-Blending Rock Albums Of The 2010s

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds are kind of like Radiohead, in the sense that you either love them or you just don't get the hype. And, this album certainly isn't the easiest way into the realm of Cave and his hairy bunch of well dressed band members. Nevertheless, it was an album that defied the idea of what rock music should be.

A lot of the ambience on this record feels cinematic and that's no surprise considering Cave and Bad Seeds member Warren Ellis had composed a string of haunting movie soundtracks by this stage. If it wasn't for Cave's vocals, this album could comfortably score the next art-house movie to premiere at Cannes.

For a group of musicians who have made the names as the gothic poets of rock music, there's a surprising lack of guitar on these tracks. Multi-instrumentalist Ellis held back on many of the songs, giving centre-stage to the piano, synthesizers and violin. When the guitar was included, however, it was deployed with expertise, using just enough to accent the songs with a hint of rock, reminding you where these guys came from.

For anyone who has ever been curious about the allure of Nick Cave, but hasn't ever known where to start, go check out the rock doc 20,000 Days on Earth, a semi-fictitious insight into the recording process of this album.