Personnel: Nick Cave (vocals, electric guitar, piano, organ); Warren Ellis (acoustic guitar, viola, background vocals); Martyn Casey (acoustic guitar, background vocals); Jim Sclavunos (drums, percussion, background vocals).

Recording information: Metropolis Studio, London, England (2006); RAK (2006).

Photographer: Polly Borland.

Unknown Contributor Role: Jim Sclavunos.

Beginning sometime in the mid-to-late 1990s, Nick Cave's output became increasingly nuanced, introspective, and even tender. While he was still capable of a snarling rocker now and again, he'd certainly mellowed by the turn of the new millennium. Then came 2007 and the arrival of the mighty Grinderman, a Cave-fronted band featuring longtime colleagues Warren Ellis, Martyn Casey, and Jim Sclavunos.

The project marks the first time Cave has ever been featured on guitar, and the first time since nearly the Birthday Party that he's approached his music with such libidinal urgency and swaggering gothic machismo. The music screeches, lurches, and clangs with a loose abandon that reimagines Cave's earlier incarnations in a more self-effacing guise. While Cave's lyrics are as considered and darkly literary as ever, there's humor here ("No Pussy Blues," "Depth Charge"), and the general improvisatory, spontaneous nature of the project is obviously being enjoyed by all. GRINDERMAN is delicious proof that Nick the Stripper isn't gone after all. Parents, lock up the kiddies, it's show time.