Sound: Simultaneously throwback and forward-thinking riff rock with a mix of fuzzy and funky grooves, high-speed-chase guitars and sedated and haunted chill-outs. Few of the songs have any semblance of a pop hook, but the ever-present falsetto melodies and harmonies make the music friendlier and more soothing than it should be.
Look For: Their co-opting of one of the most quoted movie lines of the last twenty years (“Puts the lotion in the basket” from The Silence of the Lambs) in the opening line of track 1 “Turnin’ On the Screw”.
Heavy Rotation tracks: “3’s & 7’s”; “Turnin’ On the Screw”
Medium Rotation tracks: “I’m Designer”; “Into the Hollow”; “Sick, Sick, Sick”; “Make It Wit Chu”
Recommended: For the second album in a row, Josh Homme and co. deliver an album without a knockout single (like 2000’s “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” or 2002’s “No One Knows”). But, as always, they continue to preserve classic rock while boldly pushing rock’s evolution forward. Unlike many of today’s pure revivalists, Queens of the Stone Age constantly give you something new and volatile to grab onto.
Grade: B+
Hear Queens of the Stone Age in rotation on 3wk.com
Listen to Tracks/Buy Music:
On iTunes
On barnesandnoble.com
I actually like the fact that it doesn’t seem to have a hit single on it. It means that I won’t go around campus hearing the song everywhere. Does cut down on the Guitar Hero possibilities however…
It’s unlikely that any one song will get over overplayed, which is good, I guess. When I first heard the opening riff of “3’s & 7’s,” I thought it was gonna be a monster hit. It’s still a great riff and the best song on there for my money, but it didn’t fully realize its potential.