Gargoyle is yet another fantastic album from Mark Lanegan, and one that points to a new path. It’ll be interesting to see where it leads.
The musically adventurous yet supremely accessible Gargoyle both provides the ideal point of entry to the Mark Lanegan catalogue and proves that this perennial guest star is by now at his best when hogging the spotlight all to himself.
Mark Lanegan is back and he may well have made his best record of the last few years. 'Gargoyle' is a moody, rewarding listen with plenty of depth.
Gargoyle takes the electronic bedrock of its 2014 predecessor Phantom Radio and kicks it up a notch.
Gargoyle suggests a new direction for Mark Lanegan: while the imagery remains predominantly dark, and Alain Johannes’ arrangements plumb glorious Gothic textures, there are glints of optimism and lightness of spirit peeking through some songs, reminding one of Leonard Cohen’s wise nostrum “There is a crack in everything, it’s how the light gets in”.
Bleak or bleakly funny, Lanegan is in the form of his career.
Gargoyle kicks massive ass; here are ten songs you won’t be able to hear enough. Just about essential.
At first glance, Gargoyle doesn't feel like an album full of surprises, but after the second or third spin, the fuller and bolder sound of the arrangements and production becomes clear, and it all serves Lanegan's talents in a way his last few Mark Lanegan Band albums have not.
Gargoyle is as confident and assured as anything Lanegan has released. It stands up alongside his best work and pushes his method in a few new directions, without trying to break from the paradigm. It’s no crossover work that’ll likely garner him new fans, but it finds him cemented in his legacy.
Gargoyle marks another solid addition to an extensive catalog and I’m curious where he’ll head next.
Perhaps Lanegan wasn’t conscious of the message he was sending, but like a gargoyle making faces to fend off intrusion, Lanegan all too often prevents the audience from seeing the artist that lives behind his dour exterior. Gargoyle is most engaging when it invites glimpses, however fleeting.
Although Lanegan’s voice plays an imperative, and deeply ingrained focal point of the record’s music, Gargoyle is missing the emotive, musical draw that makes Langegan the tear-jerking, blues-poet that he really is.
Classic acoustic-ish Mark Lanegan sound. It's his voice that keeps me coming back. Highlights for me are "Beehive", "Goodbye to Beauty" and "First Day of Winter".
The scene is pretty familiar: Mark and his band are sitting in the dark room of myths, drinking, smoking and talking about death rides and the devil, when suddenly, some sunrays invade and make the air a bit lighter.
Is it for good or for bad?
Death's Head Tattoo - 90/100
Nocturne - 85/100
Blue Blue Sea - 80/100
Beehive - 80/100
Sister - 60/100
Emperpor - 85/100
Goodbye to Beauty - 85/100
Drunk on Destruction - 85/100
First Day of Winter - 70/100
Old Swan- 75/100
Average Rating:80/100
Overall Opinion: Really great album by a legendary artist. Definitely one i'll be going back to.
#18 | / | MOJO |
#24 | / | Gigwise |
#36 | / | PopMatters |
#69 | / | Fopp |
#89 | / | Louder Than War |