When members of two failed bands of even the smallest notoriety combine forces, all too often they�re labeled a �supergroup� and set up to meet impossible standards. This cycle seems to be repeating itself with the Gutter Twins, a collaboration between the frontmen of the grunge-era bands the Screaming Trees and the Afghan Whigs. While their contemporaries seemed to find instant success in the early �90s, Mark Lanegan�s Screaming Trees and Greg Dulli�s Afghan Whigs never made it out of the starting gate and achieved only minimal mainstream success. When each band folded at the decade�s end, Lanegan and Dulli turned their attentions to other projects, eventually emerging as the Gutter Twins, a term tied to both men�s soiree with the seedier side of rock during their former bands� existence.�

A record four years in the making, the finished project of Lanegan and Dulli�s work together is the album Saturnalia. Proving that their name is not just a facade, the Gutter Twins� Saturnalia is a gloomy trip to the darkest parts of the human psyche.

The album�s tone is set immediately with the brooding first track, �The Stations.�� Fueled by Lanegan�s baritone, the track steps outside of the grunge framework their previous bands were known for with its well-placed use of a string section.

Saturnalia�s second track, �God�s Children,� gives listeners their first taste of Dulli fulfilling the dual role of songwriter and lead vocalist. While the song�s tempo picks up some from the first track, it remains rooted toward the slower end of the spectrum, keeping the album�s gloomy subconscious alive.

Track No. 3, �All Misery/Flowers,� is the first of a handful of appearances by former A Perfect Circle and current Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen. While the song succeeds musically, it is hindered by poor lyrics such as, �Little girls might twitch at the way I itch/ But when I burn it�s a son of a bitch.�

Sounding almost operatic, the track �Idle Hands� most resembles the grunge sound the Gutter Twins� frontmen are known for. Immediately following it, though, is Saturnalia�s finest moment, the bass-driven tune �Circle The Fringes.� Starting off slow and quiet, �Circle The Fringes� is a sonic punch to the head after it breaks the two-minute mark.���

From there, Saturnalia moves along at a typical pace. �Seven Stories Underground� finds Lanegan using his voice to paint a musical landscape brought to life with the song�s subdued backing music. Similar to Lanegan�s vocal work on the Queens of the Stone Age song �Hangin� Tree,� �Seven Stories Underground� is a perfect example of the less-is-more aesthetic.

Stepping the most outside their musical norms, the Gutter Twins employ grunge-era hero Natasha Shneider and her synthesizer�s beats on Saturnalia�s eleventh tune, �Each To Each.� While by no means a bad song, �Each To Each� doesn�t exactly ebb with the rest of the album�s tracks and would�ve sounded better as a contribution to the next Handsome Boy Modeling School record.

Despite the fact that the Gutter Twins� Saturnalia was recorded in two different locations with dozens of different studio musicians, it never loses its rainy-day music feel. From beginning to end, the latest outing by grunge alums Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli is as solid a record as one can expect from people who have been in the music business for close to two decades. If the Gutter Twins must be labeled as a �supergroup,� then they are certainly on par with, if not better than, fellow �90s supergroups Audioslave, Velvet Revolver and Army of Anyone. In the end, the Gutter Twins prove that while it is unrealistic to expect a masterpiece from the latest incarnation of a �supergroup,� it does not mean they cannot produce an exceptional debut album like Saturnalia.