White Stripes’ frontman Jack White takes a behind-the-scenes role in his latest project, The Dead Weather, which brings together lead singer Alison Mosshart (of London-based lo-fi post-punk duo The Kills), Raconteurs’ bassist Jack Lawrence, and Queens of the Stone Age guitarist Dean Fertita.

The foursome involved weren’t fucking around when they went into the studio to produce the 11 tracks on Horehound (released July 14 on Third Man Records). Written and recorded in a mere three weeks, the hard rock album is deeply rooted in the greasy, blues-infused sounds of the ’70s and each member adds his or her own distinctive zing to the mix.

Mosshart leads with sultry, chick-with-grit vocals, recklessly drawn to the harsh treatment of a cruel and shameless lover in one song and by the next, callously mistreating her own long-suffering flame with a snarling, “I like to grab you by the hair / and drag you to the devil.” A surprisingly capable rock drummer, White spends most of the album behind the kit pounding out heavy doom beats, though he makes a few well-timed vocal appearances that play on his sizzling chemistry with Mosshart; songs like the two seething scorchers, “I Cut Like a Buffalo” and “Treat Me Like Your Mother,” almost verge on the aggro funk-metal of Rage Against the Machine complete with White’s staccato, rapping-style of lyrical delivery. Lawrence provides the fatty basslines and fuzzed-out grooves. And Fertita’s use of a vintage organ and Moog synths paired with his fiery reverb-drenched and warped-noted riffage really takes the album out there, propelling the music beyond the confines of hard rock and into sinister space, most noticeably in “3 Birds,” an instrumental cut that rides a tide of spooky sci-fi stealth.

Horehound’s sole issue is that the epic rock numbers are broken up by several forgettable ones, songs that sound great upon first spin but leave little or no lingering impression.