While Nick Cave was courting his muse to write his twelfth record with the Bad Seeds, she finally came to him with dark eyeliner, black fingernail polish and a flair for bleak, brooding melodies, layered thickly with fire-and-brimstone allusions. Each song on Nocturama is delicately crafted around Cave's despondent vocals, which mournfully convey his daunting, yet poetic, story-telling lyrics amidst a wash of delicate piano and string arrangements. The godfather of goth delivers plenty of songs here that are sure to please his longtime followers, but keeps things accessible enough to pull a few more into his congregation, as well. The Seeds get gritty with the feverish "Dead Man In My Bed," a raging rant of church-organ bursts and guitar squawks, while Cave's endearing take on romance, "She Passed By My Window," finds him surrendering to his feelings of heart-wrenching longing. For all those who are weary and broken- hearted, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds are here to wrap themselves around your wounds and usher you through the darkness. (CMJ)