Reviews
Queens Of The Stone Age
Rated R
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Add to del.ico.us.Review Date: 2005-03-03
To use a Brandonism when I wanna rock out with my cock out the band I most often turn to is Queens of the Stone Age, also known as Q.O.T.S.A., also known as that band that Dave Grohl drummed for.
Until a few weeks back I had only heard "Songs for the Deaf" which was their second album featuring Dave Grohl doing all the drumming. I had heard from various sources that the second album was equally as good, but had never been willing to shell out the 24.99 it usually cost. That is until I grabbed it with the Shins for 2/25. Sweet tits. Turns out the second album rocks even harder than "Songs for the Deaf".
Which isn't to say it is better. Just in terms of the volume, and intensity of the albums "Rated R" takes the cake. "Rated R" is more of a straight forward hard rock album and naturally "Songs for the Deaf" is a more creative and ranging album like most good subsequent efforts are. Both deserve a place in any hard rock or Queens of the Stone Age fans cd collection that much is certain.
So why do I love Queens of the Stone Age so much? Firstly because Josh Homme in spite of being a woman stealing bastard (He stole then wife of Tim Armstrong of Rancid (Brody from the Distillers) away while they were married) is a fucking amazing musician. He has a great rock voice, and the way his voice is distorted, and layered, and the way he changes intensities to be screaming at full volume or just laid back and chill like on the song most people know by Q.O.T.S.A. "No-one knows". Secondly I love Q.O.T.S.A. because they make hard rock music without giving up on trying to be creative and stretch the boundaries of a rather restrictive genre. The guitar is always awesome, and the drums whether its Dave Grohl are not is better here than on 98 percent of all other albums. Q.O.T.S.A. have that rare ability to make hard rock music that you could either mosh to, dance to, or just chill out and absorb. It doesn't matter. It is that flexible. And all of these reasons are why I am so eagerly anticipating March 22's release of their third record "Lullabies to Paralyze".
So let's talk stand out tracks. The first one that jumps out at me is at track 4 and is called "Auto Pilot". This song opens rather soft actually, with a guitar solo and then a rather soft vocal part in the beginning. This song also features a favourite of mine the incredible Mark Lanegan (which makes it all the more appealing). The simplistic catchy guitar riff recycled throughout is the glue that holds this entire track together. But hearing the chorus, "I wanna fly, wanna ride with you. Is this the best that you can do?" Is a great example of what makes me love this band so much. Their songs are killer catchy, and have chorus's and lyrics that anyone can pick up on right away and start singing along with. This band just has that attitude where they can put out a soft song, and still have that hard rock attitude. I'll get back to that though when I close out this review, and bring up Black Sabbath. But I digress.
"Better Living Through Chemistry" emits a sound more similar to "Songs for the Deaf". It has a darker more brooding kinda sound to it, both instrumentally and vocally. Hell you can even sense that in the title of the song. This is best played very very loudly, as is almost all Queens of the Stone Age. This song features a lot of ambience or atmosphere. With large gaps without vocals, transitioning into the next verse. In that sense it almost has a bit of a Tool feel to it, as they are one of the best at doing that within a single song. Another trademark you find in Q.O.T.S.A. song's is kinda like noises instead of vocals. By that I mean Josh Homme going "ahhh, or ughhhhh" you know what i mean rather than using vocals. It almost works like a different instrument at times. And if you are reluctant to believe me, then listen for yourself. It WORKS.
If I had to pick a single off of this album I would go with "Monsters in the Parasol". On the whole it is probably the song that most people would like on first listen of this album. And it isn't a knock, I love this song. This song is stoner rock at its finest. And by that I mean it is just some awesome, and sometimes trippy guitars accompanied by some catchy and wicked vocals. This brings to mind the same kinda fun loving, catchy feel that a track like "No-one knows" did off "Songs for the Deaf". And that was their most successful single to date, so I think that is worth noting.
Before I get to my last song two others songs I just wanna mention. "Quick and to the pointless" is a 1 min and 42 seconds song. And it more or less amounts of Queens of the Stone Age meets The Go! Team except death metal. This is pure screaming vocals, high energy guitars and like a cheerleader squad in the background. Fucking awesome, but it doesn't go on long. Definitely worth noting. Similarly the opening track "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer" is another standout track. Although the only lyrics of the song are "Nicotine, Valium, Nicodine, Marijouna, Ecstasty, and Alcohol... c-c-c-c-cooocaine." In spite of that, it still rocks very hard and opens the album up strongly. And is one of the most well known Q.O.T.S.A songs that has ever been. Its the attitude man.... these guys have it. Most bands do not.
The last song is just called "&". And it is a secret song more or less. I would have to rate this secret song up with the best of all time. Although nothing has yet rivaled "I Was All By Myself" by Green Day... and quite frankly I wonder if anything ever will. But this song has Q.O.T.S.A. experimenting with a new sound, and new instruments more than they have ever done on any other track. The first few minutes is more or less your typical Queens song.... but in the second half it is purely instrumental and it plays like ambient acid jazz. With cracked out, out of tune mutated guitars that bring to mind circus music or Mr. Bungle. As the track progresses, and mutates even more they add a saxophone to the equation. And it starts playing a tune that is completely out of whack with the crazed circus music. Like we are talking Lost Highway weird here if you've ever seen that movie, or heard the soundtrack (done by Trent Reznor by the way). This song is fucked man, and i'm not even on any drugs.
So there you have it. "Restricted" by Queens of the Stone Age. Now as for my Black Sabbath comment, I think that if anything Q.O.T.S.A. has done was to be released around the same time as Sabbath came out it too would have been considered metal. Yet in today's day in age NOBODY considers it to be metal. It is never even considered. Funny.... because in terms of what I think metal was meant to be, these guys exude it from their every pore. And they have their fair share of songs with intense guitar, and literally screaming instead of typical vocals. Just an observation.
If you liked "Songs for the Deaf", you ought to go out and get this album. I say it is equally as good, and less experimental. What does that mean? Well I tend to need to be in a bit of a mood for "Songs for the Deaf", I needa want to go for a saga you know. A really intense music listening experience. But this album is a lot more.... user friendly. Albums like this you'll often hear me refer to as a gateway drug to the rest of the band's work. And I think that is a good description for what you get here. I'll bet you, there as many avid Queens fans who like this album, as their are who prefer "Songs for the Deaf". March 22nd, "Lullabies to Paralyze" the saga continues.....
Songs you should download: "Feel Good hit of the summer", "Leg of Lamb", "Auto Pilot", "Better Living Through Chemistry", "Monsters in the parasol", "Quick and to the pointless", "&".
Score: 8.5
Any Queens of the Stone Age album is gonna lose some marks for simplicity. Hell, they don't get called stoner rock for nothing. But this is another one of those albums that I would base whether you want to listen to it off what I write, not what I score.
- Dan