Tuesday night at the Paradise Rock Club, backed by a whip-smart five-piece band, the best friends and former roommates were a study in opposites as they delved into their new album, tunes from Dulli's Twilight Singers' releases and Lanegan's solo records.
Dulli is the classic outsize frontman. One minute the former Afghan Whigs singer was exorcising his demons on churning, electric noir tracks like "God's Children" and "Front Street" with a cracked, soul-infused howl. The next he was needling the audience. "If you don't get your hands up, we'll play Providence next time!"
The stoic Lanegan, late of the Screaming Trees, on the other hand, stood stock still, gripping his microphone stand and opening his mouth only to loose his rumbling, hellhound-on-my-trail baritone on songs such as "Seven Stories Underground." (At the show's end, Dulli quipped, "I think he thanks you for coming," as Lanegan beat a hasty retreat before the final note.)
The combination worked beautifully as the two singers' voices complemented each other in a dark tango. They meshed and butted up against each other in equal measure over a spider web of slide guitars, mellotron, and pounding beats that made shaking the hand of Lucifer in "King Only" sound equally alluring and terrifying.
LA quartet Great Northern opened with a swirling set of psychedelia-tinged indie rock.
Sarah Rodman can be reached at srodman@globe.com. For more on music, go to boston.com/ae/music/blog.
