The new album from Queens Of The Stone Age, ‘… Like ClockWork’, have leaked, to delight of fans around the world.
Since ‘Era Vulgaris’ from 2007, that the members of Queens of the Stone Age have been quite busy. Each one of them have created side projects and even helped produce albums for other bands: Sweethead, The Gutter Twins, The Dead Weather , Mini Mansions, Them Crooked Vultures and Arctic Monkeys ( ‘Humbug’ ). Those six years were pretty intense to Josh Homme and important to consolidate the morale of his group. During this period, there are several works that Homme was involved and therefore influenced the final results that we hear in ‘… Like Clockwork’. The topics covered between tracks are explicitly harsh , with morbid descriptions about life, sex, drugs and death. The skeleton of the album, or the majority, was conceived when Homme was hospitalized due to a surgery done on his knee that threw him into bed for three months. ‘…Like Clockwork’ turns out to be… a little autobiographical.
‘…Like Clockwork’ reunites the band behind ‘Songs For The Deaf’, but it’s a reunion in name only: Lanegan appears on just one track, ‘Fairweather Friends’, which also features Elton John, Reznor, and Oliveri. For his part, Oliveri gets a vocal credit on two tracks: ‘Fairweather Friends’ and ‘If I Had A Tail’, which also features Alex Turner. Homme he’s the lead vocalist on all ten tracks.
The album starts with ‘Keep Your Eyes Peeled’, a slow song but with a very heavy atmosphere. ‘I Sat by the Ocean’ is one of the songs that stand out most on the album, a hit for sure. ‘The Vampyre Of Time And Memory’, is a new approach in the band. Impossible not to notice the influence of Elton John on this touching ballad. The lyrics are also one of the most sensitive and personal on the entire career : ‘i want to God to come and take me home, cause i’m all alone in this crowd…’. The major key (again), is Dave Grohl, who is behind the kit for six of the ten songs, some of which are absolute highlights: ‘If I had a Tail’, which featuring Alex Turner, Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan, ‘My god is the Sun’, album’s first single and first played at Lollapalooza Brazil in 2013, is another secure and reliable music from Queens Of The Stone Age. ‘Kalopsia’will give you the chills, while ‘Fairweather Friends’ has nothing more or less than Elton John, Trent Reznor, Nick Oliveri, Mark Lanegan, Alain Johannes and Brody Dalle. ‘Fairweather Friends’ it’s a track that connects beautiful combinations from Josh vocals, extra weight coming down on Nick bass, extra vocals from Trent all led by master Elton .‘Smooth Sailing’, takes one simple blues pattern and expands it into one manic groove jam featuring irreverent lyrics: ‘It’s all in motion/No stoppin’ now/I’ve got nothin’ to lose/And only one way up/I’m burning bridges/I destroy the mirage/Oh, visions of collisions Fuckin ‘bon voyage/It’s all smooth sailing/From here on out/’. ‘…Like Clockwork’ moves towards to the end with two more great songs, ‘I Appear Missing’ (not the short version you known from the animated video), just one of the best tracks of the record, with a very dark mood, almost suicidal. ‘…Like Clockwork’, the title track, brings us to a definite end, and gives the listener a sense of completion.
At this point many fans have expected ‘…Like Clockwork’ to be a visit back in time to the glory days of ‘Rated R’ and ‘Songs for the Deaf’, the two QOTSA classic rock albums. Instead, the new record is more of a approach to the concept of the ‘Lullabies To Paralyze’.
The marketing pre-release of ‘…Like Clockwork’ brought five videos that complement each other and create the ‘clock effect‘, that the album carries in the title. Attend to this playlist to have a general idea of the album.
