Tom Waits has long carved his niche in popular music by producing eerily atmospheric ballads documenting shady Bohemian lifestyles.

While he delves increasingly deeper into the dark with every record he releases, Waits finds himself trailing off into the dead of night with Real Gone.

If this all sounds too theatrical, it's probably because it is. But Waits, being the unsurpassed master of painting pictures through song that he is, pulls it off with aplomb. "Trampled Rose" and "Dead and Lovely" are so vividly gritty you can taste the booze and breathe in the bar smoke, while the epic "Sins of My Father" shows Waits' tender side trying to cut through the grease and grime.

Not every track hits home, but the record's persistently murky ambiance helps it congeal together on the whole. Listening to Real Gone is like taking a walk through the junkyard.

At first it may seem like little more than a lot of spare parts and loose ends, but listeners who keep digging will eventually find the treasure at the bottom of the heap.

Grade: B