On January 24th, Saul Goodman finally broke something that wasn’t bad. That day, Bob Odenkirk — who immortalized the notorious “Better Call Saul” character on the acclaimed TV show Breaking Bad — announced to the world that the Afghan Whigs were releasing their first new album in 16 years. Hailing from Cincinnati, Ohio, the Afghan Whigs proved one of the most individual bands to rise out of the post-Nirvana musical landscape. The group’s masterpieces — 1993′s Gentlemen and Black Love — forged brutally personal song cycles out of kinetic hard rock, soul swagger and outsider abandon in a way that didn’t resemble the grunge ubiquity of their brethren.
The Whigs dissipated following what seemed to be its final release, 1965, in 1998, with frontman/leader Greg Dulli concentrating on his solo-driven collectives the Twilight Singers and Gutter Twins. The Whigs returned for a 2012 reunion tour, however, that was as successful as it was unexpected. After that jaunt, though, new music didn’t seem likely from the combo — that is, until, of all things, a surprise joint show with R&B hitmaker Usher at 2013′s South by Southwest conference lit a new creative fire beneath them. The resulting new Afghan Whigs album, Do to the Beast (due out April 15th on Sub Pop), proves a piece with the band’s classic material — yet with fresh, unpredictable shadings that indicate its contemporary genesis.
