Even as I type this, I am of two minds over how to approach writing about the latest Queens Of the Stone Age release. On the one hand I want to come from the angle that it’s a very heavy record, much in line with the bands origins (early 90’s stoner-metal outfit, Kyuss) and influences (Sabbath, MC5, the Stooges), while when I consider the single and several other tracks on the record, it seems the angle of smart, edgy pop is more accurate. Now I’ve settled with the fact that the record has both components, and it makes it all the more interesting that the band successfully walks this line.
The album’s first track, “You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, But I Feel Like a Millionaire,” would fall into the first category, having more in common with modern stoner-metal bands like Monster Magnet than it does with the rest of the record. I cannot deal with bassist Nick Oliveri’s screaming main vocal on this track, even if it’s meant to be so heinous on purpose. But the song introduces a lot of the recurring elements that contribute to the record’s greatness. One is the use of funny, bogus radio station IDs made by band pals and former members; the first one says, “KLON, clone radio… we play the songs that sound more like everyone else than anyone else.” Though I’ve not lived in southern California in a long time, this can only refer to KROQ, which is pretty funny because evidently QOTSA is in heavy rotation on this lame-ass giant. The ID leads way to a very “AM radio” sounding guitar intro that effectively bursts into CD-quality, full metal regalia. The fuzzy bass and 70’s sounding guitar are utilized perfectly, as is another staple of this record, the stop—the place during a live concert where everyone claps that is not familiar with the record, thinking the song has ended. But QOTSA do this masterfully, and for way longer than the listener expects.
The second song “No One Knows” starts immediately and is the single, thus setting up the dichotomy that has made this so difficult to write. Like “The Lost Art Of Keeping a Secret,” the single off their last record, R, it’s insanely catchy but very smart, and showcases Josh Homme’s excellent voice, which reminds me of (and I will catch a load of shit for this) a rougher JR Richards (Dishwalla). The music is precise—unlike the heavy, almost jamming feel of the previous track—and spacious with lots of room for trippy vocal harmonies. The guitar only gets crunchy again at the end in the bridge, which shows off splashes of prog rock. The beat changes to something crazy for just a measure or two, is replaced by guitar lines out of something like Blue Oyster Cult, then we get our stop (or was that the end of the Beatles, “A Day In the Life?”), and resume in a warm, minimal vein.
The rest of the record is really a combination of these elements. Lots of fuzzy bass. More guitar influenced by 70’s garage, pre-punk, early metal, and rock. And unless I’m out of my mind, more than a few King Crimson or Rush (circa Permanent Waves) moments. Most of the songs are much heavier than the single, but with very melodic vocals. Many times I thought of the record overall as a harder-edged, more complex Foo Fighters, that would never be turned into Muzak at Disneyland (swear to god, I heard it!); only later upon reading the liner notes did I learn the Dave Grohl played drums for the whole thing! I’m not sure what this means, since Grohl doesn’t play drums in the Foo Fighters, and the drumming on this record is not his style in the least, but maybe he put his mark on the record in other ways.
After paying closer attention to the liners I learned that Mark Lanegan (ex-Screaming Trees) rounds out this line up of QOTSA. Unfortunately said liners do not distinguish who does what exactly on each song, except that he co-wrote three—after seeing the band in concert a few nights before writing this, I learned that he sings on just short of half the record. I never followed Screaming Trees, but his voice suits the warmer, less noisy songs of the record very well.
Overall, it is a smart, unusual and both heavy and edgy-pop record, and totally refreshing at a time when heavy music seems to fall into two camps—one: vanilla melodic verse brings way to “aggro-lite rock” chorus (Linkin Park); or two: super over technical, soulless, electronic-influenced samples and loops (Static-X). Can’t they all just go away? Bonus points for fun “hidden” track featuring melodica, symphonic drums, and expertly played acoustic guitar. Awesome. |