They’ve fallen out over a girl. They’ve even lived together. And now Greg Dulli, former frontman of R&B-incorporating indie-rockers The Afghan Whigs, and Mark Lanegan, erstwhile lead singer of folked-up psychedelia-embracing Screaming Trees, have made a record together.

And not just any old record at that. Five years in the making, and it shows. With a sound that’s as epic as the timescale: big, booming, and as intense as being subjected to one of Lanegan’s famous make-a-man-fill-his-pants-at-ten-paces stares.

Lanegan has previously collaborated with Josh Homme on Queens of the Stone Age duty. If you didn’t know that already, you would after listening to ‘Idle Hands’ which sounds like a product of Homme’s infamous Desert Sessions. The rest of this debut album is of its own ilk, however, with Dulli revealing: “I have never written songs like this before; it’s a different temple I’m visiting.”

(4½/5)