Album Review: Mark Lanegan Band: Blues Funeral (2012)

By Scott Jeffrey

If you are a  fan of Queens of the Stone Age you have probably also heard of Mark Lanegan.

Lanegan was in fact, a member of QOTSA (Queens of the Stone Age) from 2000-2005. The Washington based punk/blues rocker has been collaborating and focusing on his own solo work while playing in Queens and after Lullabies To Paralyze, his last album with the band.

Blues Funeral, his latest full solo LP recorded with QOTSA member Alain Johannes, dropped just this past Tuesday. Here is a breakdown of what you can expect.

The Gravediggers Song is pretty much straight off of the QOTSA album Songs For The Deaf  the machinegun drums and desert rock sound are like a time warp back to 2002. This is a single for a reason and a good track to ease you into Lanegan’s solo sound.

Quiver Syndrome  is another track that feels a bit like QOTSA but with Lanegan’s twist on it. By making use of a 90’s style synth sound and some backup singers to add a bit of levity to pounding desert rock.

Bleeding Muddy Water is an older style, bluesey track. It sounds like it could be a bond theme. If I had to describe the sound I would almost tip a hat to Chris Rea. These are slow, dark, methodical blues.

Ode To Sad Disco Is sort of a curve ball on the album. It is strangely up beat, with a disco synth the title basically describes this perfectly. It is an ode to sad disco, which seems a bit of a throw in on an album called blues funeral. This is a track I have yet to get through; it seems a bit like filler.

Phantasmagoria Blues is haunting, using a very unusual minor progression for the verses this is something that feels strangely right but shouldn’t. It’s a blues song at heart, but may not sound like the same old same old.

6.5/10

Take Away Thought: The album as a whole isn’t the strongest showing, only because the tracks are sort of unsorted changing sound and genre at will. It’s kind of a collection of songs and there are definite hits and misses. That being said there are songs for everyone as well, classic blues, desert rock, pop and other genres all pop up. I would recommend listening to the single’s but it might not be an album worth picking up unless you really like what you hear.