CD Reviews

Mark Lanegan Band | Blues Funeral

4AD (2012)

By BARRY THOMPSON | January 31, 2012

3.0 Stars

Unlike a few of his early '90s Seattle contemporaries who made tons of money, erstwhile Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan has not died, put out shitty records, or made a self-deprecating cameo on Portlandia. Although plenty of surviving Gen-X standard-setters have faded into ironic nostalgia, Lanegan, even at his worst, remains interesting. Within the past five years, alliances with Greg Dulli (as Gutter Twins), shadowy UK duo Soulsavers, and Isobel Campbell have yielded superbly murky results. The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia (2008) and Soulsavers' Broken (2009) are awesome, but Lanegan's first solo mission since 2004 is only pretty awesome. The spotlight stays fixed on his darkly soothing intonations throughout, keeping the smoky, low-key aesthetic unvarying despite some stylistic and instrumental adventurousness. "Bleeding Bloody Water" drags, and "Ode to Sad Disco" invites an unfavorable comparison to the Faint. But the awesome — ghoulish electro-punk love lament "The Gravedigger's Song," bar-band-ish rocker "Riot in my House," and whatever the heck is going on during the pleasantly trippy "Leviathan" — outweighs the unawesome.

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