Leonard Cohen's voice may sound as ravaged as this midlife masterpiece's production is magnificent, but his couplets are to die for. "I've seen the future, brother: It is murder," croaks Cohen in the title track. And of course, "There is a crack in everything/That's how the light gets in" ("Anthem"). Wit, profundity, despair and hope vie for supremacy as female backing singers provide a Greek chorus on an album as timeless as a Sophoclean tragedy.