While I'm sure Nick still means well, it's been a steady decline since The Birthday Party. Even though Cave showed some potential a couple of years back with the release of Let Love In, Murder Ballads was stricken with some kind of plague.

If you've been keeping up with the darksider, you probably know his new kick is Jesus. In fact, the album is one big spiritual. Now, I'm not a God-fearing man, and I'd rather not have The Holy Spirit forced down my throat by a respectable music figure. However, there's a remarkable amount of talent shown on The Boatman's Call. Cave's gift for writing music is still as obvious as it was from day one, and lyrically he still impresses.

Produced by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and that electro-guy, Flood, there's still a lot of innovation going on. The Casio keyboard on "Brompton Oratory" is brilliant, as are the melodica and voice-over tracks on "Green Eyes."

Don't rule out the possibility of another few good records from Cave, because one day, this man's gonna put down his bible and I'm gonna be there with support.

-Ryan Schreiber