In the eight years since his last "band" album (2004's critically acclaimed 'Bubblegum' released on his then label, Beggars Banquet) you can hardly accuse Mark Lanegan of resting on his laurels.   That's because in between that album and this there's been a veritable explosion of releases from the enigmatic frontman but these have largely come about as collaborations with the likes of Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, Unkle and my own personal faves The Gutter Twins.

With the music captured within these releases swinging from such musical bipolar opposites as hard nosed electronica to gentle folk, and from post punk pop to dance it's hardly surprising to find that 'Blues Funeral' features of lot of what Mark has learned during this time, and in utilising the deft production skills of ex-Eleven man Allain Johnnes for this album he has actually managed to deliver a 12 track missive that is staggering in both its beauty and its quality.

Pulling in a cast of desert rock star buddies for that extra smokey flavour they seem to afford Mark's very own rich vocal tone is nothing short a masterstroke, and just one listen to the spiralling epic that is 'Leviathan' featuring the scene's godfather Chris Goss delivering his deft vocal and six string touches will convince you that this really is an album like no other out there right now.  And it doesn't stop there either, album opener 'Gravedigger's Song' is head and shoulders the best song I have heard this year - Fact.  Swinging along on a Mani metal bass heavy groove the poetic beauty of Mark's prose flow like lyrical honey over a tune I'm sure Nick Cave would have loved to have written for his Grinderman project.

The eclectic influence of Lanegan's side projects could never be more evident as they are on the melancholy bluegrass of 'Bleeding Muddy Water' or the textured electro pop of 'Ode To Sad Disco', the album switching styles in the flutter of an eyelash without ever once making the listener have a "what the fuck?" type moment. I just wish Queens of The Stone Age albums could still move me like this, however in saying that Josh Homme isn't that far from the action on 'Blues Funeral' as his unmistakable guitar squeal is all over the ragtag rocker that is 'Riot In My House'. So things may just be looking up in that department sometime soon.

I know we've been quick to label albums "early contenders for albums of the year" here on Uber Rock but it will take something very special indeed to top the dirty folk of 'Phantasmagoria Blues', a track that slowing massages your brain into a place only Lanegan's vocal ketamine can take you. 'Deep Black Vanishing Train' meanwhile is a gentle acoustic strum that is turned all Ennio Morricone by the introduction of the star of 'Blues Funeral's' dusty vocal. If by this point your questioning if Lanegan is still a rocker at heart then take a listen to 'Quiver Syndrome' a track that out-Velvets the Strokes without once sounding contrived or forced.

A lot has been said of Kurt Cobain being the John Lennon of the X generation, and that Layne Staley was perhaps that scene's Jim Morrison, well if that is the case hands down Mark Lanegan is the grunge movements very own Tom Waits, and in 'Blues Funeral' he's just recorded his very own 'The Heart Of Saturday Night'.

I once let Mark Lanegan albums pass me by on their release, but now they are must buys on the day they hit the shops, his music hasn't really changed that much, I have, and you can too.  'Blues Funeral' is the work of a modern day musical genius at the very pinnacle of his creativity; do not let it pass you by.

http://marklanegan.com/