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Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli. Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan. Afghan Whigs meets the Screaming Trees. When I first heard that these two veterans of 90s alternative music were joining forces I could see the possibilities. Lanegan’s deep growl combined with Dulli’s manic scream sounded like a match made in rock and roll hell and on their debut album, Saturnalia it is.

Lanegan and Dulli have remained busy since the demise of their original bands, Screaming Trees and Afghan Whigs respectively. Lanegan has released solo records and has been a mainstay with Queens of the Stone Age, while Dulli has released three excellent records with his Twilight Singers collaborative. By taking the best of both their work and combining them, Lanegan and Dulli have recorded a powerful album that comes from straight from the gut and the gutter.

On cuts like Idle Hands, Lanegan’s back from the dead howl and Dulli’s last chance yelps build to massive heights with grinding guitars and pounding drums. In The Stations you can almost see the horror of the little girl as she witnesses the twisting of Lanegan’s junkie sick caricature singing “Little girls might twitch at the way I itch, but the way I burn, it’s a son of a bitch.” Dulli and Lanegan mine the depths of human emotions for the raw feeling of our insecurities so well its frightening.

The more the album moves on the deeper and darker the Twins get and we are the better for it. Its not often that two artists can get together on a record and each bare their souls to us to help save ours. Lanegan and Dulli have earned the right to be the Gutter Twins, let’s hope they stay around and wallow in our gratitude for a while.