Album Reviews

Saturnalia
The Gutter Twins – Saturnalia
9.0
 on
Friday, June 13, 2008 - 00:00
submitted by
Thomas
What do you get when you put Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan together in the studio? It has to be something amazing, right? Because we all still cherish Dulli for everything he did in Afghan Whigs and is still doing with his Twilight Singers. That mix of rock, soul and the white man’s blues is still haunting me in my dreams. And then there’s Mark Lanegan, a man with a unique voice who first made waves with Screaming Trees and who has since worked with well… pretty much everyone.
 
So what do you get when you put Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan together in the studio? You get a masterpiece called “Saturnalia” on which the pleading voice of Dulli that always borders on being out of key completely and totally intertwines with Lanegan’s warm and deep voice. It’s a rare case where 1 plus 1 equals 3. Whether they’re backed up by loud guitars (“Idle Hands”), soulful Rhodes sounds (“Who Will Lead Us?”) or an acoustic melody, Lanegan and Dulli manage to lift each other up to reach new heights on every single song.

So what is it you need to do when Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan are in the studio together? Pick up whatever it is they recorded because it’s gonna be brilliantly melancholic. Or melancholic brilliance. Whichever way suits you best, just make sure you don’t miss out on “Saturnalia”.

Tom Dumarey
Tom Dumarey

Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.