Blues Funeral

Like a fleeing convict whose survival demands constant movement, Mark Lanegan has lent his life-scarred blues-rock growl to various causes in recent years. But none of his hired-gun gigs – Isobel Campbell, Greg Dulli, Soulsavers – holds a candle to his first solo album since 2004’s Bubblegum. Blues Funeral deepens his pitch while exhibiting a range and grace beyond his death’s-head profile: you wouldn’t mistake it for anyone else, but its intoxicating potency and surprise swerves elude concerns that his outlaw front might calcify in cliché.

1    The Gravedigger's Song
2    Bleeding Muddy Water
3    Gray Goes Black
4    St Louis Elegy
5    Riot in My House
6    Ode to Sad Disco
7    Phantasmagoria Blues
8    Quiver Syndrome
9    Harborview Hospital
10    Leviathan
11    Deep Black Vanishing Train
12    Tiny Grain of Truth