
The Gutter Twins. Saturnalia. 2008. 4.5 stars.
This stunning alternative album is a collaboration between grunge legend Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age) and Greg Dulli (Afghan Whigs) who have been working together on this project for over three years. The result is a refined, post-grunge masterpiece that boasts stellar songwriting, strong vocals and powerful rock hooks, drawing you into a murky and blues-inspired emotional trip.
Saturnalia has a gritty, dark gospel feel to it, touching similar nerves as Tom Waits and The National’s Boxer, with Lanegan’s moody baritone moaning over “being the devil’s plaything” and lamenting his eventual journey “seven stories underground”. With lamentations over sin, lost love and a general lack of options, the lyrics here are poignant, clever and reveal the duo’s sharpened writing abilities, coming from their years of experience in the underground.
The musicianship is also impressive, with slithering baselines, fiery guitar solos and impassioned vocal harmonies. The second half of the album moves beyond expectations, incorporating subtle electronic effects and piano lines to add to the album’s sonic palette. The sound of The Gutter Twins, while dark and bluesy, is not despairing, but rather plays sorrow with a cool and refined swagger rarely scene in alternative rock. Leagues ahead of the decaying grunge corpses that have dominated the mainstream since the main players faded away, The Gutter Twins return to that genre’s emotional core and revitalize it with intelligent songwriting, diverse sounds and a cathartic delivery that feels genuine, as if coming from real, desolate places.
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