...Like Clockwork- Queens of the Stone Age
by: Kitty White
Their first release of new material
since 2007, ‘…Like Clockwork’ is quintessential Queens of the Stone Age. Josh
Homme and the gang did it again bringing back the eerie and sleazy desert rock
sounds of their hit album ‘Songs For The Deaf’ almost eleven years later. Being
a long time casual listener of Queens this album sent me head over heels in
love with this band.
Frontman Josh Homme went through a serious surgery just a couple of years ago where he died and was revived on the operating table. The lyrics and songs reflect of that time and read as a diary of a man figuring out life after death. Songs like The Vampyre Of Time And Memory along with the title track, which closes out the album, show a much more personal and softer side to Mr. Homme. The lines ‘I’m alive, hooray/ You’re wrong again cause I feel no love’ from Vampyre really capture the struggle Josh Homme was facing with life, love, and friends after his surgery. Going from songs like I’m Designer and Make It Wit Chu off their last album ‘Era Vulgaris,’ which are more lightheartedly sarcastic and sexual, to those of ‘…Like Clockwork’ that deal with much more serious matters and relationships is like watching a teenager become an adult. The dark humor is not a distant memory though. Josh Homme reminds us that he’s still the same old wise guy after “dying” with the track Smooth Sailing. With tongue in cheek lyrics such as ‘I blow my load over the status quo’ it’s no doubt that Queens of the Stone Age are still the same band they have been for all these years. The highlight of the album though is no doubt the six-minute saga of I Appear Missing. The song takes you up to the top of the mountain, melts your face off, gives you a three second break, then does it all over again. Within the last minute of the song Josh Homme blows you away with a beautiful falsetto that takes you over the edge. I Appear Missing echoes the light and dark of the entire album within itself without a single dull moment. Needless to say this album is like nothing I’ve ever heard before yet it’s still has the feeling of previous works by Queens of the Stone Age. I’ve had the vinyl spinning all summer and I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon.
Frontman Josh Homme went through a serious surgery just a couple of years ago where he died and was revived on the operating table. The lyrics and songs reflect of that time and read as a diary of a man figuring out life after death. Songs like The Vampyre Of Time And Memory along with the title track, which closes out the album, show a much more personal and softer side to Mr. Homme. The lines ‘I’m alive, hooray/ You’re wrong again cause I feel no love’ from Vampyre really capture the struggle Josh Homme was facing with life, love, and friends after his surgery. Going from songs like I’m Designer and Make It Wit Chu off their last album ‘Era Vulgaris,’ which are more lightheartedly sarcastic and sexual, to those of ‘…Like Clockwork’ that deal with much more serious matters and relationships is like watching a teenager become an adult. The dark humor is not a distant memory though. Josh Homme reminds us that he’s still the same old wise guy after “dying” with the track Smooth Sailing. With tongue in cheek lyrics such as ‘I blow my load over the status quo’ it’s no doubt that Queens of the Stone Age are still the same band they have been for all these years. The highlight of the album though is no doubt the six-minute saga of I Appear Missing. The song takes you up to the top of the mountain, melts your face off, gives you a three second break, then does it all over again. Within the last minute of the song Josh Homme blows you away with a beautiful falsetto that takes you over the edge. I Appear Missing echoes the light and dark of the entire album within itself without a single dull moment. Needless to say this album is like nothing I’ve ever heard before yet it’s still has the feeling of previous works by Queens of the Stone Age. I’ve had the vinyl spinning all summer and I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon.
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