The new Queens of the Stone Age record saunters into the party like a carny with an erection, with a tailor-made soundtrack in tow. As mastermind Josh Homme puts it himself over the Doobie Brothers funk of "Smooth Sailing,” "Got my own theme music/ plays wherever I are." The rest of the song's lyrics are equally quotable with a stand-out couplet in, "Visions of collisions/ Fuckin' Bon Voyage.” Homme packed your bags to bad riddance the moment he strapped on his guitar.
As an iconographic guitarist, Homme always shone best when unencumbered by frontman duties. That's part of the reason the relative absence of Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan over the last two albums was such a letdown and probably a large part of why the band suddenly seemed less interesting; they were by no means bad records (especially Lullabies To Paralyze), but no one would claim they were as exhilarating as Queens' first three albums. Homme, without a doubt, sounds reinvigorated here. His apparent knee surgery brush with death and subsequent social coma in the years leading to this album apparently gave the man a moment to reconsider a few things. As a result …Like Clockwork is the rare album that can be called an actual return to form. He takes a decidedly more mellow direction, but the songs are as exciting, surprising and fun as they were in the Songs For The Deaf era and prior. This, dear listener, in no way implies that the album lacks the big, bruising, rock-hard riffage you wandered out to the desert for in the first place. "My God Is The Sun" alone practically slaps the album in its own face. It comes busting open straight out of the slinky and slutty, "If I Had a Tail,” brilliantly re-purposing lines from both "Lady Marmalade" and The Crystals; it's one of many songs that make this album the most surprisingly sexy creation since Radiohead's In Rainbows. Homme's always had a come-hither-to-that-bathroom-stall allure to his scowling charisma, but this here is outright bonin' music.
Opener "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" is a bluesy first drink sent across the bar with a bridge right off the new Tomahawk album. The whole thing is cut from a page of Bowie's criminally underrated and secretly greatest album, Diamond Dogs. The band trots out Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters (and please do yourself the favor of taking in their previous collaboration ) to offer up the first of many guest appearances which dot the album. Homme (or likely longtime accomplice Troy Van Leeuwen) steps behind the keys for an almost AM Gold turn, delivering a performance as more of a suicidal Jackson Browne on "The Vampyre of Time and Memory.” The spelling of the sucker in question goes probably as far as it could in distancing the otherwise pretty cool title from the complete and utter fucking market saturation of vampires and vampire by-products.
To describe a song by these guys as sounding evil is to overstate the obvious. In that sense, there's a familiarity to many of the songs and especially to the way in which Homme constructs a hook. He's almost akin to Hank Williams (or at least John Fogerty) in his approach to an individual style of songwriting, even while he plays around with various genre dalliances. Like the latter, you can't sue him for plagiarism if he invented the sound. His guitar tone stands on its own, however, readily identifiable and the attribute that truly marks him as a shoe-in for one of the greats. Hearing the sound in one of Homme's riffs connects with the ear in the same way you hear someone like Mark Knopfler and know instantly who is playing guitar.
Vocally, Homme is clearly just living it up, tossing his awesome falsetto around, getting in a couple screams like he's never let out before, and having a blast singing these songs. When the album calls for more somber moments, like on the closing title track, the effects and bluster are dialed down and he delivers the clearest, most natural vocal takes of his career.
Credit for quality should definitely go out to the band members for their performances on …Like Clockwork. The showcase of three separate drummers of repute for different reasons gives the record a great flow. Joey Castillo, opening the record on an outstanding three-song run, hands the reigns to the mighty Dave Grohl, exactly where he belongs. His is as thrilling an appearance as having Claude Coleman fill in for Homme himself when the Eagles of Death Metal opened for the Afghan Whigs last year. Castillo shows up again for the Trent Reznor-assisted bossa nova cat-fight "Kalopsia,” while the album finishes out with new bandmate Jon Theodore – an alumnus of the Mars Volta – on the closer, co-produced by James Lavelle of UNKLE. This current line-up seems extremely game for the sound Homme has already perfected in his head. He may be revealing some brand new tricks (a practice he's apparently rather defensive toward when it comes to people aping his signature tone and style), but he knows exactly what he's doing.
It's disappointingly rare for a band to falter or level off in their music but manage to come blazing back later and pick up the slack that had previously been left twisting. …Like Clockwork does exactly that though, and justifies the patience so many fans had as they waited for Queens Of The Stone Age to return. This album does that and more; it's so good, it might change your life. In this writer's own case, it's helping me shake off a personal funk. I've been growing moldy, but Queens of the Stone Age are definitely smelling sweeter.
Artist:
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Download:
Queens Of The Stone Age – …Like Clockwork – “My God Is The Sun” – [mp3]
Further Reading:
Ground Control Magazine – Queens Of The Stone Age – …Like Clockwork – [Review]
Album:
…Like Clockwork will be released on June 4, 2013 via Matador Records. Pre-order it here on Amazon .
