Carnage
Studio album by
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Released25 February 2021 (2021-02-25)
StudioSoundtree, London
Length40:04
LabelGoliath
Producer
  • Nick Cave
  • Warren Ellis
Nick Cave and Warren Ellis chronology
Kings (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(2017)		 Carnage
(2021)

Carnage is a 2021 studio album by Australian musicians Nick Cave and Warren Ellis. Longtime collaborators in Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Grinderman, Carnage is their first full-length studio album as a duo, apart from their extensive work in film music. It was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown and released digitally on 25 February 2021 via Goliath Records, with a CD and vinyl release on 28 May 2021,[1] but was pushed back to 18 June 2021.[2]

At the 2021 ARIA Music Awards, the album was nominated for Best Adult Contemporary Album.[3]

Songs from Carnage were first performed by Cave and Ellis with singers and a string quartet in the documentary film This Much I Know to Be True, directed by Andrew Dominik and released in 2022. The documentary was filmed in spring 2021 before Cave and Ellis's UK tour.[4]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.6/10[5]
Metacritic91/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Clash9/10[8]
The Daily Telegraph[9]
The Guardian[10]
The Independent[11]
NME[12]
The Observer[13]
Pitchfork8.0/10[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
The Times[16]

Upon its release, Carnage received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the release received an average score of 91 (the only album of 2021 to achieve this feat other than American musician Taylor Swift's Red), based on 21 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[6] It is Cave's third consecutive studio album to score above 90 on the site. It was ranked the highest-rated album of 2021 by Metacritic, whose list only includes new albums receiving at least 15 reviews from professional critics. As a result, Cave is the only artist to have won Metacritic's Album of the Year three times, following wins for Skeleton Tree (2016) and for Ghosteen (2019).[17]

Reviewing the album for AllMusic, Mark Deming claimed that "There is greater sense of spontaneous energy in Carnage than in much of Cave's music of this period, and that doesn't blunt the craft of this album. It's the work of two collaborative artists who are in the midst of a later-period renaissance that has spawned powerful, evocative music that speaks to its time without being confined to the crises that sparked its creation."[7] Robin Murray also gave the album a positive assessment in a review for Clash, declaring that it "stands as something unique, the sound of two vastly experienced musicians removing themselves from expectations, and constructing something both beautiful and visceral, tender and blood-thirsty, wholly terrifying and completely absorbing."[8] At The Daily Telegraph, Neil McCormick described the mood of the album as being "infused with profound and almost inescapable grief. But as this particularly audacious singer-songwriter grapples with isolation, loneliness, loss and the hard emotional graft of endurance, all set against a backdrop of apocalyptic threat, the personal becomes universal. Carnage may just be the greatest lockdown album yet."[9]

Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis compared it to Cave's previous album; "If it doesn’t feel quite as remarkable as Ghosteen, that tells you more about the previous album than the quality of Carnage: Cave and Ellis’s musical approach is still vividly alive, the dense, constantly shifting sound complementing the richness of Cave’s writing now."[10] Helen Brown was less critical in the review for The Independent, stating that "Although the sonic mood mellows after the first two tracks, listeners will be invited to share the transcendent joy in memories of a lost child; the awe of an uxorious lover whose prayer-like love for his wife is a continual saving grace; and the frustration of a caged man with an “open road” of a heart."[11] Andrew Trendell of NME gave the album a perfect score, writing, "Carnage is arguably Cave and Ellis' best record since The Bad Seeds' latter day reinvention on 2013's Push the Sky Away, or maybe even Abattoir Blues. It's certainly two master craftsmen at the peak of their melodramatic powers."[12] Martin Boulton of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the album's "vast, cinematic quality" and Cave's lyricism.[18] In Hot Press Pat Carty concluded that "Carnage is a phenomenal piece of art, where these two giants, these wizards of Aus and old and odd, surpass themselves, again."[19]

Year-end lists

Carnage on year-end lists
Publication List Rank Ref.
The Guardian The 50 best albums of 2021
15
Mojo The 75 Best Albums of 2021
5
Paste The 50 Best Albums of 2021
13
The Sunday Times 25 best albums of 2021
5
The Telegraph The 10 best albums of 2021
3
Uncut The Top 75 Albums of the Year
3

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Nick Cave; all music is composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis

Track listing
No.TitleLength
1."Hand of God"5:17
2."Old Time"5:16
3."Carnage"4:47
4."White Elephant"6:08
5."Albuquerque"3:57
6."Lavender Fields"4:34
7."Shattered Ground"5:35
8."Balcony Man"4:30
Total length:40:04

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[26] and Tidal.[27]

  • Nick Cave – vocals, background vocals, percussion, piano, synthesizer, arrangements, production, mixing, sleeve design
  • Warren Ellis – background vocals, autoharp, drum machine, alto flute, glockenspiel, tenor guitar, harmonium, loops, piano, synthesizer, viola, violin, arrangements, production, mixing
  • Strings (tracks 1–6, 8)
    • Eloisa-Fleur Thom – violin
    • Alessandro Ruisi – violin
    • Luba Tunnicliffe – viola
    • Max Ruisi – cello
  • Choir (tracks 1, 3, 5, 8)
    • Hannah Cooke
    • Nicholas Madden
    • Amy Carson
    • Timothy Dickinson
    • Sarah Dacey
  • Esmeralda Conde Ruiz – choir conductor
  • Thomas Wydler – drums (track 2)
  • Matt Colton – mastering
  • Luis Almau – drums (track 4), acoustic guitar (track 4), arrangements, mixing, engineering
  • Ben Jones – assistance
  • Ramera Abraham – assistance
  • Colin McIlhagga – assistance
  • Hingston Studio – sleeve design

Charts

References

  1. ↑ Minsker, Evan (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Release New Album Carnage: Listen". Pitchfork. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "CARNAGE - Nick Cave". nickcave.com. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  3. ↑ Kelly, Vivienne (20 October 2021). "ARIA Awards nominees revealed: Amy Shark & Genesis Owusu lead the charge". The Music Network. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Uncommon Creative Studio (19 January 2022). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to Star in Feature Documentary 'This Much I Know To Be True'". www.lbbonline.com. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  5. ↑ "CARNAGE by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 8 December 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Carnage by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis Reviews and Tracks". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  7. 1 2 Deming, Mark (25 February 2021). "Carnage - Nick Cave, Warren Ellis | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  8. 1 2 Murray, Robin (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave + Warren Ellis - CARNAGE". Clash. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  9. 1 2 McCormick, Neil (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave & Warren Ellis's Carnage will be our greatest lockdown album". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  10. 1 2 Petridis, Alexis (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: Carnage review – vivid visions of apocalypse and absolution". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  11. 1 2 Brown, Helen (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave review, Carnage: Blunt, hopeful and full of flesh and spirit". The Independent. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  12. 1 2 Trendell, Andrew (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – 'Carnage' review: master craftsmen at the peak of their powers". NME. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  13. ↑ Empire, Kitty (27 February 2021). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis: Carnage review – the firebrand returns". The Observer. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ↑ Cush, Andy (2 March 2021). "Nick Cave / Warren Ellis: Carnage Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
  15. ↑ Grow, Kory (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis Find Hope Amid Today's Sorrows on 'Carnage'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  16. ↑ Hodgkinson, Will (25 February 2021). "Nick Cave & Warren Ellis: Carnage review — gothic gold spun from global chaos". The Times. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  17. ↑ Dietz, Jason (23 December 2021). "The 40 Best Albums of 2021". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  18. ↑ Boulton, Martin (26 February 2021). "Nick Cave and Warren Ellis create Carnage together". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  19. ↑ Carty, Pat (1 March 2021). "Album Review: Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage". Hot Press. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  20. ↑ Beaumont-Thomas, Ben; Snapes, Laura (17 December 2021). "The 50 best albums of 2021". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
  21. ↑ "The 75 Best Albums Of 2021". Mojo. No. 338. January 2022. p. 58.
  22. ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2021". Paste. 29 November 2021. Archived from the original on 29 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  23. ↑ Cairns, Dan; Dean, Jonathan; Helm, Jake (11 December 2021). "25 best albums of 2021". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  24. ↑ McCormick, Neil (17 December 2021). "The 10 best albums of 2021". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "The Top 75 Albums Of The Year". Uncut. No. 296. January 2022. p. 63.
  26. ↑ CARNAGE (liner notes). Nick Cave & Warren Ellis. Goliath Records Ltd. / AWAL Recordings Ltd. 2021. BS021LP.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  27. ↑ "Credits / CARNAGE / Nick Cave". Tidal. 25 February 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  28. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  29. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 June 2021.
  30. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  31. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  32. ↑ "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 25.Týden 2021 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  33. ↑ "Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40 Uge 25, 2021". Hitlisten. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  34. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  35. ↑ "Albumit 25/2021". Musiikkituottajat. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  36. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  37. ↑ "Official Irish Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  38. ↑ "Album – Classifica settimanale WK 25 (dal 18.6.2021 al 24.6.2021)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  39. ↑ "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  40. ↑ "VG-lista – Topp 40 Album uke 25, 2021". VG-lista. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  41. ↑ "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  42. ↑ "Portuguesecharts.com – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  43. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  44. ↑ "Spanishcharts.com – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – Carnage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  45. ↑ "Veckolista Album, vecka 25" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
  46. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  47. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  48. ↑ "Official Independent Albums Chart Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  49. ↑ "Jaaroverzichten 2021". Ultratop. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
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