Grinderman had been put on hold due to the members' involvement on
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' fourteenth studio album, Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, in 2008. After the Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds summer tour in 2008, the band began recording the album in various studios throughout London.[3] Speaking to
XFM, Cave noted that the album "will feature a totally different sound" and plan to "do it a more serious way this time"; he remarked that he did not plan for the album to receive commercial success.[4]
Recording was completed in August 2009—a year after the original sessions—production was completed in April 2010 at Seedy Underbelly in Los Angeles, and the album was produced by
Nick Launay, a friend of the band, who had also produced Grinderman's
self-titled debut, with additional production by the members of the band. In an interview with The Quietus in September 2009,[5] Warren Ellis confirmed that Grinderman 2 was completed. Ellis also described the album as "like
stoner rock meets
Sly Stone via
Amon Düül", "very diverse", and "psychedelic". The album was released in September 2010, in a regular and a deluxe edition, the latter containing a 52-page booklet (illustrations by Ilinca Höpfner) and a poster (photography by
Polly Borland).
Singles
The album's first single, "
Heathen Child", was released in September 2010.[6] The music video was directed by long-time collaborator
John Hillcoat. "
Worm Tamer", the second single, was released on 22 November. The music video was directed by
Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.
Grinderman 2 received mostly positive reviews, with some critics finding the album superior to its predecessor, Grinderman, and holds an 83 score on
Metacritic, denoting "universal acclaim".[8] Thom Jurek of
AllMusic said it was a "more polished and studied affair than its predecessor" and "more sonically adventurous" while still being a "white-hot rock and roll record".[9] It has been described as "full of nightmares, but nightmares worth repeating."[19] Garry Mulholland of
BBC Music said that Grinderman 2 had a sound, influenced as much by 60s
garage punk and droning
Krautrock as the
blues."[20]
The
iTunes LP will also include bonus videos of "Heathen Child", seven trailers for the album, directed by John Hillcoat and Ilinca Hoepfner and a
digital booklet complete with lyrics.