Brooding guitars – the ones we somewhat missed on Brighten – surge on Let It Lie while the title track has much of the gallop that characterises Queens Of The Stone Age’s more celebrated music, but it’s smeared, of course, with Jerry's lashing six-string and huge harmonies.
It’s an altogether more oppressive album than Brighten, and therefore something that Alice In Chains fans are going to want in their lives. That said, I Want Blood still knows when to pause for breath. Echoes Of Laughter is a delicious slowburn – if incense had a sound, you’d hear it here – while closer It Comes is among the most considered music he has ever written.
Nobody confronts endings quite as starkly as this artist, and here he muses on chapters – and lives – closing, in sensitive fashion. A unique artist, we’re lucky to have him.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Alice In Chains, Queens Of The Stone Age, Tremonti
I Want Blood is released on October 18 via Double J Music