Album Review: Mark Lanegan Band - Gargoyle

Mark Lanegan's latest feels like it picks up from where previous album Phantom Radio left off.

A tendency towards a heavy guitar sound is tempered by atmospherics, a few pop hooks and more synths washing across the mix. It's dark and brooding but the real heaviness comes from the deep huskiness of Lanegan's well-worn baritone that works the lyrics about love, loss, regret and memory. The album soars on cuts like Nocturne, Old Swan and Beehive but sinks into deep introspection on Goodbye To Beauty and Sister, which clearly pays homage to The Psychedelic Furs' Sister Europe. Gargoyle is one of Lanegan's better albums.