Mark Lanegan Band release their new album Gargoyle through Heavenly Recordings. On balance, there's not a whole lot of meat on the bones here. There's promise of the tracks going somewhere, but just as the songs start to get interesting they end.

I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something sadly lacking here. I think what it's the fact that there's no real identity; nothing to latch onto. While some might champion this as a diverse style of writing, for me it just felt as though the band didn't have any real focus or direction. I neither hated nor loved any of the tracks, I was merely ambivalent...

There are elements of U2 on songs like 'Old Swan' and I was reminded of The Family Machine's 'Skeletons and That' when listening to the introduction of 'Goodbye To Beauty', but other than that I had no other feelings of note.

I've been listening to this album for several weeks now and sadly I'm no closer to getting to know any of the 10 songs (41 min, 18 sec) than I was on the first play through. It's not a bad album, it's just that it's not particularly memorable either.

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Nick Smithson