Reviews
Eages Of Death Metal
Peace Love Death Metal
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2004-10-15
The best way I can describe the Eagles of Death Metals is that they remind me of a cross between Queens of the Stone Age mixed with the Darkness. The music..... is similar to me to the of Queens of the Stone Age, except the album in general lacks the seriousness, or the grunginess that a Queens of the Stone Age record does. This is where the Darkness comes in, it almost seems like the album itself is done in a bit of jest. There are no deep serious thinker songs, there are no downers anywhere on the album. Everything is up beat, perhaps even a bit too up beat.
The lead single and opening track "I Only Want You" is an awesome song. My girlfriend and I first heard it on Wedge, and over the days and weeks to follow the song gained momentum, and we started to hear good things about the album. Later we found out the singer from Queens is actually the drummer for the Eagles of Death Metal (weird?). Which added to their hype a bit. The lead single is a simplistic song, a back and forth rock song with guitars playing off one another, and the falsetto voice of J. Everett Hughes repeatedly exclaiming that "I only want you". This is a bouncing around your house, rocking out by yourself song. Its inevitable, you can't help it.
"So Easy" is another highlight on the album. This song reminds me quite a bit of Tenacious D actually. The song finds Hughes singing a lot of "doo-doo-doo-do, di-di-doo-di"'s in the chorus. And if you have ever heard a song or an album from the "D" then you know what I am talking about. Not surprisingly perhaps Jack Black from the "D" nominated this album for the shortlist of music awards (alas he was the only one who did). "So Easy" doesn't have a lot of lyrics, in fact its mostly the lyrics in the title, the noises, and the instruments. But eventhough its a simple formula, it makes for a tremendous track. This song also uses something that must be a staple of the Queens of the Stone Age the fake end to the track, because that happens again and again on the most recent Queens album and similarly does on this track as well. A three second pause, only for the song to pick up again.
"Flames go Higher" might be my favorite track on the album, or perhaps my second favorite track. The guitar riff, and the lyrics are carefully combined to put the listener into a bit of a trance. The guitar riff just keeps repeating itself through the song, as the lyrics are sung and repeated again and again telling you "I'm going to set my soul on fire". its easy to lose yourself in the Eagles of Death Metal, and just get caught up in the moment. The songs have a way of sucking you in.
Normally I am critical of a few songs on any album, but its hard to do that with this offering. Some songs are inferior.... like "Bad Dream Mama" which is missing something, I can't quite put my finger on it. "Stacks of Money" which is catchy, but it is a bit abbrasive due to how repetitive it is. But even thse tracks are still totally listenable.
"Stuck in the Metal with you" is a fun cover of "Stuck in the Middle of You", it doesn't depart all that far from the song in terms of the vocals, but the backing guitar, drums, and bass are changed considerably to a more aggressive 2004 rock song. If this ever comes out as a single, it will be huge.
My absolute favorite song on the album is "Kiss the Devil". "Kiss the Devil" is a bit of a hillbilly rock song. "Who loves the devil, who'll sing his song? I will love the devil and his song. Who loves the devil who'll kiss his tongue, who will kiss the devil on his tongue." is the often repeated chorus or catch line in this song. But its mixed in with extended long rock-a-billy jams. I would love to see this song live, because the jams that would be produced would be awesome. Simple songs, can sometimes be the best songs. When done right.
All in all, this is one of the more original sounding albums I have heard this year. You can't help but get in a better mood when you slip this into your CD player, and for a change you don't have to deal with a few songs that you want to skip when you put it in. Is this album rocket science? No.... fuck some of the songs have maybe 20 words in them, the rest is all repitition. But its part of the style. And I like it.
Other tracks you should download: "I Only Want You", "So Easy", "Flames Go Higher", "Stuck in the Metal With You", "Kiss the Devil", "Whorehoppin" just to name a few.
Score: 8
And after all that he only gives it an 8...I know that is what you are thinking. But like I said its not rocket science, and I have to dock a bit for the simplicity of it. But it spends a lot of time in my cd player. More than most 8's would.
- Dan