Mark Lanegan is known for his dark bluesy growl of a voice, which has graced albums by Screaming Trees, Queens of the Stone Age, and The Gutter Twins, as well as a solo catalog that grows with each year. Black Pudding is a collaborative effort with the relatively obscure multi-instrumentalist Duke Garwood, who toured with The Gutter Twins and has worked with The Orb, Josh T. Pearson, Kurt Vile, and Wire. The nocturnal sounds here are no surprise. Lanegan's voice demands the music be vampiric, for it has to avoid sunlight to be effective; the self-explanatory "Death Rides a White Horse" and the more mysterious "Driver," with its mellotron-simulating guitar, are two examples of this approach. The drum loops guiding "Mescalito" sound odd in their context. However, when they return for "Cold Molly," they're further accompanied by additional samples of keyboards and found sounds. Garwood smooths things over with gentle guitar instrumentals, which start and end this solid, endearing record.