Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus
by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
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Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds bestography
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus is ranked 5th best out of 30 albums by Nick Cave on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Nick Cave is Skeleton Tree which is ranked number 369 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 4,472.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus on YouTube
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 4 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | SD100852 | Top 17 Music Albums of 2004 | 2/17 | 5 |
| 2026 |  zags7000 | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 89/100 | 11 |
| 2026 |  jeremy9 | Top 90 Music Albums of 2004 | 41/90 | 3 |
| 2026 | juanr1096 | Top 100 Music Albums of 2004 | 11/100 | 5 |
| 2026 |  AAL2014 | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 84/100 | 3 |
| 2026 | stangetzaway | Top 100 Greatest Music Albums | 82/100 | 18 |
| 2026 |  eclab | Top 100 Music Albums of the 2000s | 78/100 | 5 |
| 2026 | matterhornrider | Top 36 Music Albums of 2004 | 11/36 | 4 |
| 2026 | LittleM1971 | Top 90 Music Albums of 2004 | 49/90 | 2 |
| 2026 |  Tamthebam | Top 82 Music Albums of 2004 | 7/82 | 5 |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 422 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 2,350 | |||
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus collection
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Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 455 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/28/2026 20:34 | luukvdschepop | 767 | 75/100 |
| ! | 09/12/2026 21:18 | Praibonito | 81 | 85/100 |
| ! | 09/06/2026 19:51 | xhitmanx | 1,604 | 75/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 1% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 79.9/100, a mean average of 79.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 80.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.6.
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus favourites
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Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus forum mentions
Romanelli 09/21/2026 19:05 in Albums You Added To Your Collection Today
pedro1976 09/20/2026 09:04 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
BestEverAlbums 02/19/2026 21:00 in Album of the day (#5541): Abattoir Blues / The Lyre…Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus comments
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flamingyesdept TOP 100 COMMENTER 04/05/2018 15:43 | #212346 | TOP COMMENT
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Definitely Nick Cave's best album. Chock full of brilliant songs. Somewhat inconsistent as most double albums are - would have made a killer single album. Here's my imaginary track-listing:
1) Nature Boy
2) There She Goes
3) Abattoir Blues
4) Let the Bells Ring
5) Messiah Ward
6) Breathless
7) Easy Money
8) Supernaturally
9) Carry Me
10) O Children
Along with, the boatman's call, abattoir blues/lyre of Orpheus, is my favourite Nick Cave album. In a way it's his gospel rock album. The first disc(abattoir), is the more upbeat of the two with, cannibal's hymn, there she goes, my beautiful world, and, nature boy, the best. Off the mellower second disc, breathless, easy money, and, o Childern, are all excellent. There's nothing weak here, it's an absolutely stunning record from one of the best songwriters of the last thirty or so years. A masterpiece.
Nice collection of songs on this one. Crushing and daunting I may add. Spreads itself thin... still there must be something everyone likes.
A sprawling diverse intimate expansive tour de force
HoldenM TOP 100 COMMENTER 07/23/2026 13:31 | #315383 | TOP COMMENT
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If Nocturama cast a modicum of doubt that Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds were getting too cozy or had run out of ideas after their run from Let Love In to No More Shall We Part, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus is ready to ease your fears. The band's most ambitious record yet, NC&tBS's two-pronged masterpiece is as vital and absorbing as anything they have done. Over 20 years into their career, and there are no shortage of stories or sounds that the group cannot bring to life in vivid, thought-provoking detail. (Edited)
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