Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
Showing posts with label Josh Homme. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Josh Homme. Show all posts
Thursday, August 21, 2025
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Queens of the Stone Age – Villains – Album Review
Review for www.nomoreworkhorse.com
https://nomoreworkhorse.com/2017/08/16/queens-of-the-stone-age-villains-album-review/
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Monday, November 25, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Album Review - Queens of the Stone Age - Lullabies to Paralyze
Queens of the
Stone Age released their fourth album in 2005 and it’s a sprawling beast of an
album at 14 tracks (16 on the deluxe version).
Mark Lanegan takes lead vocals on the curveball opener, the brief folk
song This Lullaby before the hard-riffing Medication blasts this away, Josh
Homme barking out the lyrics to set up a run of seven or so absolute nailed-on
QOTSA classics.
There’s
Everybody Knows That You’re Insane which explodes into riffing a minute or so
in, the glitter-stomp of Burn The Witch, and pounding rockers In My Head and
the cowbell-driven Little Sister.
Something for everyone! These are
among the finest songs in QOTSA’s entire back catalogue. I Never Came is a little more of a
slow-burner and a welcome breather after the high octane tracks which precede
it. After this however, the album sags
alarmingly, with relatively weak tracks like Someone’s In The Wolf and The
Blood Is Love.
The album
never quite recovers until the aptly-titled final track Long Slow Goodbye,
where the pace slows for a fine electric strum.
The deluxe version is well worth getting for the slinky, moody Like A
Drug, and a storming version of ZZ Top’s Precious and Grace with Lanegan again
on lead vocals.
Because of its
excessive length this album tends to be in the shadow of Rated R and Songs for
the Deaf . But for the first 8 tracks
alone it deserves to be ranked up there with this bands finest work.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Album Review: Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
Released in 2000, the second Queens of the Stone Age album was my first introduction to the band. I have to admit, I didn’t really want to like them. I thought the name was stupid and wasn’t really into heavy music in the early noughties.
The album begins with the ‘drug anthem’ – Feel Good Hit of Summer, which is basically a head-banging chant along list of drugs. Yet, it’s good. However it’s the less frantic songs which shine here: The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret displays a great sense of band dynamics. It’s a fairly mid-tempo number with a heavier guitars in the chorus.
Even so called ‘lesser tracks’ like Leg of Lamb still sound better than most heavy rock. Auto Pilot, the 4th track is one of the highlights. The song struts along with some great singing from mainman Josh Homme and a really tight band performance where not a note is wasted. It’s probably one of the poppier numbers but it’s a real classic.
The album picks up a bit after this with Better Living Through Chemistry which is a perfect vehicle for Homme to do his slightly sneery, slightly geeky rock god routine. The song lurches from tight, snappy verses and chorus to heavier guitar breaks. Monsters in the Parasol is an unremarkable song, and then there is a short Nick Oliveri song (ie screechy), Quick and to the Pointless which the title perfectly describes.
In the Fade features vocal contributions from Mark Lanegan, in fine voice here as always on one of the jauntier numbers on the album. After a brief interlude (another chorus of Feel Good Hit of the Summer!) we get onto Tension Head. This is another Oliveri track but it’s absolutely gripping. One of the heavier tracks on the album, it belts along at a rate of knots, while Oliveri screams his head off, culminating in the chorus where he roars “I’m feeling so sick, I’m feeling so f**king sick”, and it’s hard to get across in words how brilliant that sounds.
A two minute acoustic interlude, Lightning Song relieves this ‘tension’ before the final song on the album proper, I Think I Lost My Headache. This is a slow, vaguely heavy track, which goes on for quite a while before descending into a horn-filled, repetitive ending.
There are 3 extra tracks on the UK version, the best of these is You’re So Vague, a wonderful twist on Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, which is catchy and delightfully heavy.
All in all, it’s a great album, and one which declared Queens of the Stone Age as having well and truly arrived. From here they became one of the most consistent heavy band of the ‘00s.
The album begins with the ‘drug anthem’ – Feel Good Hit of Summer, which is basically a head-banging chant along list of drugs. Yet, it’s good. However it’s the less frantic songs which shine here: The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret displays a great sense of band dynamics. It’s a fairly mid-tempo number with a heavier guitars in the chorus.
Even so called ‘lesser tracks’ like Leg of Lamb still sound better than most heavy rock. Auto Pilot, the 4th track is one of the highlights. The song struts along with some great singing from mainman Josh Homme and a really tight band performance where not a note is wasted. It’s probably one of the poppier numbers but it’s a real classic.
The album picks up a bit after this with Better Living Through Chemistry which is a perfect vehicle for Homme to do his slightly sneery, slightly geeky rock god routine. The song lurches from tight, snappy verses and chorus to heavier guitar breaks. Monsters in the Parasol is an unremarkable song, and then there is a short Nick Oliveri song (ie screechy), Quick and to the Pointless which the title perfectly describes.
In the Fade features vocal contributions from Mark Lanegan, in fine voice here as always on one of the jauntier numbers on the album. After a brief interlude (another chorus of Feel Good Hit of the Summer!) we get onto Tension Head. This is another Oliveri track but it’s absolutely gripping. One of the heavier tracks on the album, it belts along at a rate of knots, while Oliveri screams his head off, culminating in the chorus where he roars “I’m feeling so sick, I’m feeling so f**king sick”, and it’s hard to get across in words how brilliant that sounds.
A two minute acoustic interlude, Lightning Song relieves this ‘tension’ before the final song on the album proper, I Think I Lost My Headache. This is a slow, vaguely heavy track, which goes on for quite a while before descending into a horn-filled, repetitive ending.
There are 3 extra tracks on the UK version, the best of these is You’re So Vague, a wonderful twist on Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain, which is catchy and delightfully heavy.
All in all, it’s a great album, and one which declared Queens of the Stone Age as having well and truly arrived. From here they became one of the most consistent heavy band of the ‘00s.
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