Mark Lanegan is not a sentimental man.

That may come as a surprise to people who are used to his smoky, crooning voice caressing lyrics like "Almost called it a day so many times/ Didn't know what it felt like to be alive/ 'Til you been a friend to me, like nobody else could be" from his upcoming album Bubblegum. The simple truth is that his lyrics, his voice, and his music are deeply emotional refrains for his fans.

But Mark Lanegan is not a sentimental man.

He breaks from his past with barely a look back. In recent interviews, he barely nods at his previous albums--whether the solo works with Mike Johnson or the earliest work as the singer for Screaming Trees--and always seems to prefer to look forward to new opportunities. That may be a strong survival trait for a man who has been making music for the better part of twenty years and has seen the seedier side of rock and roll from center stage.

Only a few fans and musicians might have imagined that Lanegan would be one of the few remaining "grunge" artists still making music. Somehow, through the deaths of Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Curt Cobain, and Layne Staley, there was Lanegan surviving it all. His own addiction to heroin and his arrest for possession of crack cocaine are well-documented; his altercations with members of Oasis and Trail of Dead are legendary. What was less known was that throughout it all he kept up a steady stream of solo albums showing a rare musical depth and sound completely at odds with his grunge image.

Usually referenced as some strange mix of blues, folk, country, rock, and pop sensibilities, albums like Whiskey for the Holy Ghost and Field Songs earned him a small, devoted following. These fanatics knew something that the rest of the world just now seems to be realizing: Mark Lanegan is the owner of one of the finest voices in rock music. Deep, earthy, and surprisingly versatile, his is the kind of distinct voice that most other singers would be happy to trade their souls for.

That's all in the past, though. For Lanegan, what is interesting is what happens next. For now, that means Bubblegum, the strangely titled (it makes sense only when you've listened to the song "Bombed") new release that seems poised to launch him to new level of fame.

Just released in Europe, and poised for an August 10 release here in the United States, Bubblegum is already garnering the kind of good press usually reserved for names of a much larger stature. His record label, Beggars Banquet seems intent on making sure that Lanegan is noticed, and the music press seems happy to help the cause. With good reason, it turns out: Bubblegum is brilliant.

From the oddly disjointed opener, "When Your Number Isn't Up," returning fans will know that this isn't business as usual. This isn't the soft country rock of I'll Take Care of You's opener "Carry Home." This is organ and drum beat in the foreground with a scratchy electric guitar buzzing in the background while Lanegan sings a dark little song about what sounds like a drug overdose. "When the sun is finally going down, and you're overdue to follow/ But you're still above the ground" he sings against that bleak backdrop. From that point, the listener is on notice: this is anything but easy-listening pop music.