Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulagaris Review

Era Vulgaris is an excellent new Queens of the Stone age album that is able to maintain a balance between rock's opposite poles--artsy without being pretentious, technically proficient without being mechanical, heavy without being angry.

Queens of the Stone Age delivers more of the narcotizing, classic-minded hard rock that Josh Homme has been delivering since he formed the band. Building on the sounds of the band's previous four albums without cannibalizing them, Era Vulgaris is yet another excellent album in the QOTSA tradition--loosely constructed, wide-ranging, and determinedly rocking, with none of the woe-is-me drivel that weighs down so much of what passes for rock music these days. And as usual, it's littered with the muscular, surging guitars and smart melodies that have become their stock in trade.

This is yet another classic album for blasting in your car with the windows open. Despite their well-documented history of heavy turnover, the band actually sounds as tight as ever here, taking about ten seconds of the opening Turnin' On the Screw to lock into a killer groove that never quite lets up until the album ends. The following Sick, Sick, Sick is even better, bringing a manic, rapid-fire energy to the proceedings, with vocals that are less sung than declaimed over a backup of speedy metallic riffage.

Some might proclaim Make it Wit Chu too mellow and playful to fit on a QOTSA album, but I actually found its piano-tinged arrangements and insinuating crooned refrain to be perfect in keeping with the band's traditional good time-oriented approach. Of course, just in case anyone does find that track overly lightweight, QOTSA follows it up the with the memorably intense riff-rock of 3's and 7's before skidding into the laid-back, trippy haze of Suture up Your Future. And while many QOTSA albums have petered out on the final few tracks, Era Vulgaris is not one of them--Run, Pig, Run fires out of the blocks with a wall of thick, hard-pounding riffs and harsh noises backing a winding, ominous vocal. It's certainly not the first song to highlight a darker, more visceral aspect to the Queens' sound, but with the possible exception of the last album's Someone's in the Wolf it may be best, and it brings a suitable conclusion to yet another top-notch album in their ever-expanding catalogue.