Blues Funeral

[An] outstanding piece of work. [Feb 2012, p.92]

This is a confident, bold and captivating record, and one which is dominated by that beguilingly ragged voice.

Ultimately it's impossible not to get swept away by the emergency room blues of Leviathan, or the electro-swamp-psychedelia thrum of Tiny Grain Of Truth and not marvel at Lanegan's damaged genius in the process.

Mark Lanegan has accomplished something truly magnificent with Blues Funeral.

It's the curveballs, rather than the reliable Lanaganisms that make Blues Funeral such a powerul return. [Mar 2012, p.101]

The man could turn a Sesame Street sing-along into a deathbed confessional. "With piranha teeth / I've been dreaming of you," he moans here with typical cheeriness on opener "The Gravedigger's Song," a throbbing, reverb-heavy swirl that... feels like the sort of love song someone might write just before pushing their lover in front of a train.

Collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age's Josh Homme, Lanegan's fellow Gutter Twin Greg Dulli and original Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons inject a little more heavy and sleaze to his rock.

While most of the album passes by in an oddly comforting, narcotized haze, Lanegan is not above grabbing the devil by the wrist, pushing the pedal to the floor, and throwing down some bare-knuckled hard rock like few others know how.

Lanegan blends his most satisfying and heady aural brew to date.

he's made one of his strongest, and certainly his oddest, albums.

He appears to have been hoarding his best material for his first solo album since 2004's Bubblegum, because Blues Funeral has quality to spare.

It is Lanegan's most accessible to date. [Mar 2012, p.83]

A mighty voice of formidably expressive multitudes, here given room to roam, and to roar.

As a singer and songwriter, Lanegan's range is so much wider and deeper than anything the vast majority of singer/songwriters can touch, and his fearlessness remains devastatingly affecting.

A funeral is a termination, but can also be a clean slate. Lanegan completely "gets" that duality--and wields it expertly.

The spotlight stays fixed on his darkly soothing intonations throughout, keeping the smoky, low-key aesthetic unvarying despite some stylistic and instrumental adventurousness.

Blues Funeral generally succeeds because Lanegan knows exactly what his audience wants and is willing to play to his strengths.

Confirms what we already know. Mark Lanegan is worth his weight in musical gold.[Mar 2012, p.85]

A creative and fitting nudge out of the comfortable shadows and back into the harsh spotlight-where Lanegan belongs, at least some of the time.

Points in a direction that he'd almost certainly be wise to follow on future projects.