his rusted, ragged voice takes a redemptive journey through a dark night of smouldering guitars & crackling drum machines.

a self-confessed voice for hire since the demise of the magnificent screaming trees, lanegan has taken on the role of wandering frontman, singing with qotsa, gutter twins, twilight singers & dueting with isobel campbell. this is his 1st solo record in some time, & it hits hard – up there with his finest material. contorting a blues dirge into a darkly addictive hum-along & riding an ecstatic disco beat through dawn, ‘blues funeral’ is cohesive & compelling throughout, speeding up & slowing down but always lanegan’s very own deep, meandering river of blues.

natasha recommends: "about flippin’ time! i’ve been waiting for a follow-up to 2004’s awesome ‘bubblegum’ for way too long. i much prefer lanegan without isobel campbell’s tweeness & although he’s been busy as a gutter twin, a soulsaver & lurking in the twilight singers too, nothing he’s done between solo records has been quite as impressive as this. it starts out with a fine qotsa-esque outing & from there on in, we are treated to a mixture of his raw & visceral rockers & intimate, stripped back seductions – all of which (with the exception of 1 questionable synthy track that’s yet to win me over) make for a mind-blowing collection that’ll keep me going for another 7-8 years (or however long i have to wait for the follow-up)."