In a world of saints and sinners, Nick Cave may be both. And he knows it, milking this paradox to brilliant effect on The Boatman's Call, his haunting new album. If you think you've got Cave pigeonholed, think again – Boatman is a gloved fist pounding the final nail in the coffin of his tortured-goth image.

Of course, that persona wasn't exactly undeserved: From his psychotronic workouts with Australian post-punk legends the Birthday Party to his solo albums with his band the Bad. Seeds – not to mention his vampirish pallor and abuse of black hair dye – Cave has always displayed a taste for the macabre. Last year's Murder Ballads, his previous release, only exaggerated his ghoulish reputation: When Cave lurched through endless bloody anthems such as "Stagger Lee," it seemed like overkill for an artist already so steeped in viscera.

If Murder Ballads was the last word in retribution, however, Boatman explores the joy of redemption. Although this is Cave's most romantic and positive work yet, all is not sweetness and light. Indeed, his twisted worldview becomes clear on the first lines of the opening track, "Into My Arms": "I don't believe in an interventionist god," he intones in his unsettling basso bizarro, "but if I did, I would kneel down and ask him not to intervene when it came to you." Never before has Cave mixed his existential cynicism with such aching romanticism, and it's a potent combination. Songs such as the plaintive "(Are You) the One That I've Been Waiting For" place him in the pantheon of those truly unafraid to plumb the depths – soul-searchers like Cave's hero Leonard Cohen and even Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen. And while Cave is quick to drop a biblical metaphor or two, he has almost completely stripped his lyrics of the literary excess that has bogged him down before, resulting in his most emotionally direct narratives ever.

Co-producer Flood (Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Depeche Mode, PJ Harvey) adds to Boatman's bracing intensity with Spartan but full-blooded backing, frequently accompanying Cave's unadorned vocals with little more than piano and percussion. Also, the Bad Seeds have never sounded better, working up a revisionist folk-blues/gospel groove that in its organic interplay almost recalls the Band. Especially affective is violinist Warren Ellis – moonlighting from the Dirty Three – who counterpoints Cave's emoting with equally ardent melody lines. It's Cave's passion, though, that liberates Boatman: When he sings, "I believe in love," on "Into My Arms," he muffles love, seemingly embarrassed at his near-naked sentimentality. He shouldn't be – forcing the light into Cave's dark side has only exposed more interesting demons for him to ponder. (RS 756)

MATT DIEHL