Nick Cave had been mainlining the dark stuff since The Birthday Party, but on The Bad Seeds’ ninth album he exhumed some of the bloodiest songs from music’s past, added his own flourishes (see the foul-mouthed invocation of blues legend Stagger Lee) and threw in some of his own. Theatrical to the point where he’s practically chewing the scenery, Cave inhabits the songs with gleeful relish, but on moments like “Henry Lee” (featuring former partner PJ Harvey) he reveals the hand of a master craftsman. Plus, “Where the Wild Roses Grow,” his unlikely but haunting duet with Kylie Minogue, gave Cave his biggest hit to date. Not bad going for a record that, at a rough estimate, has a body count of 64.