Queens Of The Stone Age - "Villains"

Queens Of The Stone Age, for those of you who know me, are my all time favorite band.  Way back in 1998 QOTSA made their self-titled debut.  Now, this was coming shortly after the demise of legendary Stoner Rock/Sludge Metal act Kyuss, who contained original Queens members, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri.  QOTSA's debut album was dark and moody, focusing heavy on grooves and extended Psychedelic Jams.  But at the end of all the Jamming and sweaty/sexy riffs, this was a major Garage Rock masterpiece.  Josh's guitar playing and sultry singing was just so fresh in the rock world, and tracks like "Regular John" and "You Can't Quit Me, Baby" quickly became legendary tracks.  With 2000's "Rated R", QOTSA certainly cleaned up their production but didn't clean up their act.  This album was so much more pristine and started bringing in more classic rock Influence ("Auto Pilot) as well as Alternative Metal ("Feel Good Hit of The Summer").  However, QOTSA's mission remained the same, to create some of the sleaziest, grooviest Rock & Roll on the planet, all while bringing back in a sense of serious danger.  And they succeeded, with Psychedelic trips like "Leg of Lamb", and never ending Guitar journeys like "Better Living Through Chemistry".   In 2002 however, Queens of the Stone Age put the Alternative Rock world on notice with their epic "Songs For The Deaf".  This album is a stone cold classic and is simply put one of the most successful albums of the 2000's.  This album had it all, between radio friendly guitar jams like "No One Knows" and "Go With The Flow", and tremendous deep cuts like "First It Giveth" and "Song For The Deaf".  It was just an album that had so much for everyone, and still remains the starting point for anyone who hasn't listened to QOTSA.  However, my first and all time favorite QOTSA release will always be the incredible "Lullabies To Paralyze".  This album is just so damn dark and dreary.  It remains bluesy and centered on a very classic rock sound.  But it also is just so damn QOTSA.  It's violent, it's sleazy, it's sexy, and a modern Guitar classic album.  Queens of the Stone Age up next, however, took a turn for the weird with "Era Vulgaris" album.  This album was so much much stiffer sounding and often had Queens going for some bizarre Robot Rock vibe.  The result is some of their sloppiest to date by far.  It would be quite some time until we heard from Queens Of The Stone Age again.  In 2014, QOTSA released "...: Like Clockwork", an album that took me some time to adjust to.  But once I did, I obsessed over it.  Josh Homme on this album learned the blues and wrote some of his dreariest and somber songs ever.  It has a star studded cast, it has fantastic reunions, it's totally worth a listen.  And here we are, 4 years later with a new Queens of the Stone Age album.  These singles have been seriously brilliant, and I can't wait for a second longer to talk about the rest of this.

(The one song that started my obsession)

This album starts off with “Feet Don’t Fail Me”.  A very twisted sounding intro, but it’s where I like to hear Queens the most.  But then again, looking at this album cover, thesis certainly to be expected.  I love the very dark synths that pulsate through this very groovy opening riff.  But what’s most interesting here is the atmosphere.  The very dreary tone to this track is a cross between the dark fantasy tone of “Lullabies To Paralyze” and the true agony of “…Like Clockwork:.  But then we have the groove that slowly builds up in this track, ushering in the main riff.  As soon as it hits, you can’t deny the straight up funk behind this track.  To me, the sound of “Feet Don’t Fail Me” is what the band was going for on “Era Vulgaris”.  But this is a thousand time more likable.  It’s sexy and sleek, and totally encompasses everything about the leather wearing Josh Homme we’ve been seeing lately.  “Feet Don’t Fail Me” is honestly just the intro I wanted to hear from QOTSA, with a series of intense grooves and bluesy hooks.  This track is everything I could have wanted to hear, to the point where I actually needed a moment to come down after hearing it the first time.  Not to mention, Josh on vocals sounds absolutely wild.  Up next we have the lead single from this album, “The Way You Used To Do”.  Now honestly, the first time I heard this track I really didn’t know what to think.  At first, I sort of thought this was nothing more than Josh just doing a sort of awkward Billy Gibbons impression.   But this track is just so inescapable, and it’s just so much fun that I’ve learned to love it.  While we’re on the subject of “fun”, this is easily the most fun I’ve heard Josh and the boys having in years.  The grooves continue to be strong, and Josh’s bluesy performance stays strong even up against this more upbeat and dare I say, “Danceable” rhythm.  The guitar solo is snappy and peppy, and reminiscent of some of the more radio friendly tunes on “Songs For The Deaf”.  And not to mention, it remains very sleazy and sexy sounding, which is obviously something Josh has toyed with practically forever.  But I haven’t heard it come off this solid in years.  So far, this album is honestly, everything I what I wanted to hear.   Now, I never know what I’m going to hear going into a Queens of the Stone Age album.  But “Domesticated Animals” is one track I really wasn’t expecting to hear, and that is a return to the sounds of “…Like Clockwork”.  The riff here is straight up classic Garage Rock sounding, and Josh’s very soulful vocals come off so well here.  Also, this is easily the most hypnotic track the album has to offer, with some of Josh’s more monotonous vocals going right through me.  But overall, hell yes this works for Queens.  The guitar solos are bluesy and sound like some of Josh’s best.  But it’s the pacing on this one that really sends this one home for me.  It’s something about the very uneasy pace matched up with Josh’s very villainous delivery that hits me the right way about this one.  Not to mention, that guitar hook on the chorus is guitar heaven as far as I’m concerned.  So while this album so far isn’t as punchy or as ear grabbing, so far it’s been by the books QOTSA.  

    The very haunting atmosphere continues on with “Fortress”, and the pacing continues to be very well done as well.  But to me, this is the first track here that sort of falls flat.  To me, this one comes off as a “…Like Clockwork” track but deflated and with a lot of the energy taken out of Josh’s performance.  I do still think there are some pretty decent elements to this track, like the pacing, as Josh’s vocals which while they are less energetic are still soulful and groovy.  But in a weird way, does anyone else feel like “Fortress” comes off as too sweet of a sentiment for a QOTSA track?  Don’t get me wrong, it’s certainly pleasant to hear and all.  But it just breaks up this long string of mystifying and Semi-Sinister tracks.  Plus, why is this track on an album called “Villains”?  QOTSA come back though with “Head Like A Haunted House”, which is a nothing fancy balls out rocker that fans of “Songs For The Deaf” will probably love instantly.  Josh here sounds at his bluesiest, and the band around sound at their most unhinged.  But even outside of how wild and crazy this track comes off, I actually think this one has a ton of great writing.  I love a lot of the wordplay here, as well as some of the wild sounding ad-libs as well.  But for me, I sort of wish this was fleshed out a little bit more.  In a track list of very beefy and complicated tracks, this is shockingly straightforward.  But don’t you worry, the very cautious and dreary tone returns with a vengeance on “Un-Reborn Again”.  Josh on this one is at his darkest, talking about all of these very deformed and twisted sounding individuals.  As I listen to tracks like this though, I can’t help thinking that this track and others are seriously going to go under-appreciated.  The atmosphere on “Un-Reborn Again” is to die for.  It’s just so smooth and creepy, sort of the way that was introduced on “Lullabies to Paralyze”.  Not to mention, the very music and almost Dark-Fantasy elements have returned for a few minutes.  Now, I know a lot of people are going to think this is a little drawn out, and I certainly get that.  But between the gloomy grooves and Josh’s more passionate vocals, I feel like this one is a real gem.  It’s great to hear Queens working with elements like strings and that lone saxophone.  Plus, for a more hook and harmony oriented Queens track, it works surprisingly well.  

    The strong grooves continue with “Hideaway”, which some more of Josh’s much more blues oriented work.  To be honest, the most shocking thing about this album so far has been just how much Queens have taken from their “…Like Clockwork” album.  It’s not nearly as strong, but it’s still very busy and pained sounding.  For me though, “Hideaway” could have been a little punchier.  There’s a solid hook and all, and I really love some of the elements like those sinister synths.  But there’s no meat to this whatsoever.  And while there’s a catchy hook, there’s almost nothing else going on underneath.  Even the atmosphere on this one seems so flakey and limp.  Plus, that acoustic strumming is going to haunt me in my sleep.  But fear not ladies and gentlemen, because “The Evil Has Landed” packs enough of a punch to save this album from meandering off.  So far this album has been pretty groove-centered.  But this is the most intense that it’s gotten yet.  In a way, this once again reminds me of something the band would have done years ago with “Era Vulgaris”.  But I have to hand it to Mark Ronson of all people on the production who really nailed it.  The grooves here are intense, and not for nothing, this may be the most psychedelic track here by far.  But it gives Josh the time to shine he’s needed for quite a while.  His solo is stunning, his vocals are bluesy, and all in all this track really works amazingly for QOTSA.  But outside of that, even the rest of the band sound pretty incredible here.  This is easily their most tightly wound and intense performance.  Even that last minute which picks up quite a bit just comes off so old school and reminds me of everything I fell in love with about QOTSA many years ago.  This album ends off with “Villains of Circumstance”, and let me tell you it’s just about the dreariest thing we’ve heard here so far.  As a matter of fact, this track could have easily popped up on “…Like Clockwork”.  But while other moments on here kind of sounded like Josh was trying way too hard for that sound, here once again Josh sounds legitimately tortured.  And the way that this one builds into a pretty standard Queens track is actually really elegant.   I do have to say though, the second verse here doesn’t come off nearly as effective.  Overall, I think this track rounds off the album really nicely. 

Rating: 8.0/10

Give A Listen To: “Feet Don’t Fail Me”, “The Way You Used To Do”, “Un-Reborn Again”, “The Evil Has Landed”

Genre: Hard Rock, Alternative Metal, Blues Rock, Stoner Metal, Psychedelic Rock 

If You Dig This, Check Out: Queens Of The Stone Age: "...Like Clockwork", Arctic Monkeys - "AM", Them Crooked Vultures - "Them Crooked Vultures", Royal Blood - "How Did We Get So Dark?"

Overall Thoughts:  Going into this album, I didn't really know what to expect.  But then again, I really never know what to expect from the legendary Queens Of The Stone Age.  This isn't nearly as groundbreaking as "Rated R".  This isn't nearly as tortured as "...Like Clockwork" either.  But at the end of the day, this is still a very decent rock album.  Yes, some of the tracks overstay their welcome, and some of Josh's performances aren't as strong.  But still, the grooves are heavy, the solo's are spot on, and this is just Queens being themselves.