Anyone else been listening to this? Not sure how many Cave fans we have on here...

It's devastating. Absolutely devastating. I put it on for the first time when I was walking the dog this morning before work, and then carried on listening to it on my walk to work. Kind of in a daze. When I showed up at work people kept asking if I was OK!

I haven't seen the accompanying film (One More Time With Feeling) but apparently that's quite an emotional gut-punch.

Skeleton Tree, though, is an amazing album. It's a hard listen, really- most of it was written before the death of his son, but it's kind of all about that nonetheless. Reminds me of Bowie's Blackstar in some ways... it's hard not to read that stuff into it. The first listen I felt bad, like I was intruding on something that should never have been for public consumption. But it's also incredibly beautiful.

Any DS Bad Seeds fans out there? What did you think?

Got it but not had a chance to listen, as I heard at the weekend, that an old friend had died..So holding back for now

Yeah, it's... possibly give it a while; it's kind of intense. Really sorry to hear about your friend. Hope you're OK. You never know, it could help, though. Everyone processes grief differently. But yeah, approach with caution.

I got given a review copy of Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus the day after my beloved old dog, Biscuits, had died. Not sure whether it helped or made things worse, but the song Messiah Ward will always remind me of that day. I kind of like having that. (Even though it's far from my favourite Cave song, Messiah Ward always makes me want to cry now. But I'm cool with that).

I saw the film. My screening was blighted with technical issues, which caused it to stop and start a few times, and worst of all the 3D didn't actually work (even with the glasses on it was like watching a 3D film without them).

It still kind of left me in a daze. What struck me was how there is nothing related to the tragedy at first, then Nick begins talking about it almost via riddle, then he talks around it, then he talks about it without explicitly stating what it was. When poor Arthur is finally mentioned, they don't really stop. I've never known a films' end credits to be so emotionally taxing.

And even after all that, the album was another kick in the gut. It's beautiful, but oh such hard work. I notice the press are falling over themselves to praise it. Maximum marks from The Guardian, Independent, Telegraph and NME already.

Here's a piece I wrote on it for the website Freq.

I got it at the weekend but I'm saving it for when I can listen to it uniterrupted.

Voted 'Album of the week' in the i newspaper this morning, 5 stars. 👍

This is precisely why I stopped listening to him In the words of Kevin Rowland "I don't need you guys' bad influences. Thank you very much, thank you but no thanks, I've got enough of my own" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg0KPlYYycY

I remember listening to this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8L2qsMJX20

and all I could hear was "sweet, hot cum" and that not only ruined the song for me but proved to me once and for all that my mind was yearning for something a bit more playful.

He is very good though. You've twisted my arm, gonna get a hold of the new one and give it a few listens.

It's the same reason I stopped listening to stephen jones/babybird. I just end up feeling utterly depressed. Even with some of his upbeat songs, you listen to the lyrics and feel totally suicidal