Mark Lanegan works in mysterious ways. Since disbanding his grunge band, the Screaming Trees, after eleven years of work, he’s resorted to eccentric collaborations. Yet always an unseen force, having appeared with Queens of the Stone, The Twilight Singers, and even Belle & Sebastian’s Isobell Campbell. Even in the background, his somber, aged voice stands out and resonates over everything else. This motif hasn’t changed with The Gutter Twins.

The Gutter Twins is the official collaboration between Lanegan and Greg Dulli (of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers fame). Saturnalia is the collection of songs the two have been working out since Christmas 2003. It’s a shoe string of stories saturated in raw emotion and rare instrumental depth that’s spread across twelve tracks. Unlike Dulli’s work with The Twilight Singers, the Twins’ Saturnalia is a hard, stone cold, depressing listen.

When Lanegan starts the album with “Oh mama, ain’t no time to fall to pieces,” it’s little more than foreshadowing the overall theme of the album. Opening track, “The Stations,” is a song that many modern rock bands attempt every month and somehow succeed, though not critically. Here the final product is a combination of agony and angst, backed by an array of instrumentation, from a stoic guitar scale to violins and organs.

“God’s Children” picks up the pace, an upbeat drum beat that’s lifted to a better place by Dulli’s signature wail. This is actually one of the more rocking songs off the album. Lanegan lets Dulli off on his own will with a sweeping chorus and some memorable solo’ing, to boot. “All Misery Flowers” opens the door for Lanegan again, however, where it plays out like a drunken farmer, trudging through mud on a stormy night. When I say this stuff is dark, it’s very dark.

“Idle Hands” is culled from the underworld, where Lanegan confesses, “My idle hands/ there’s nothing I can do/ They’re the devil’s play thing, baby/ They know that I’ve been used.” It’s rocking, of course. Dullis and Lanegan have no problem reaching far back in their history to sketch out a catchy alternative chorus or a cruddy, grungy verse. It’s just now, the whole thing takes on this Tom Waits, aged with whiskey sort of vibe.

There is some light. The beauty though lies in Dulli and Lanegan’s exchanges. Not every song is a trade off. When the two work together, it blends without a problem. Those who listen to The Twilight Singers will be familiar to this interaction. The lows (Lanegan) build up to a catapulting escape (Dulli) that add a certain element missing in rock today, modern rock to be exact.

Saturnalia is not for the faint at heart. For every Queens of the Stone Age fan that digs it, there’s sure to be a disgruntled Twilight Singers listener… and vice versa. There’s modern blues rock (the brilliant “Seven Stories Underground”) , electronica (”Each to Each”) and then there’s the backyard acoustics (the epic closer, “Front Street”). It’s a jumble of all the things Dulli and Lanegan might enjoy riffing off of, which is precisely what this album, five years in the making, is: a shoe box of songs. Cohesive? Maybe not. Interesting? Enough to keep listening. Is it sentimental to end the album with Dulli crooning, “We’re gonna have some fun, son”?

Try fitting.

Rating:

Check Out:
Saturnalia (via their MySpace)

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Categories: Album Reviews, News
Tags: The Gutter Twins