Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork... Review

‘Queens’ fans had been for almost six years waiting with bated breath for the release of their 2013 follow up to Era Vulgaris. The intermediate projects of Josh Homme, Them Crooked Vultures being the most notable, had whetted fan’s appetites and bolstered a line up so star studded that a critical word of the band could not be spoken, although a Led Zeppelin/Dave Grohl/Queens of the  Stone Age hybrid is a rather hard thing to even question. …Like Clockwork is similar to Them Crooked Vultures in the sense that it is symptomatic of Josh and the Queens entourage’s constantly dynamic take on rock music. This album has veered away from some of the musical motifs which had defined the band, and with collaboration ranging from Elton John to Trent Reznor the album was never going to go back to its first album sound, ‘…Like Clockwork’ is an evolution in the band’s sound, not a safe regression back to the familiar, its more robot-vampire than desert rock. The opening track of the album, Keep Your Eyes Peeled wastes no time in announcing the new change to the “mechanical” and the “broken”, with a heavily distorted and deep bass riff colouring the song. Touches of Josh’s voice are softer than previous albums in juxtaposition to the trudging laziness of the opening riff. The grinding pace of the first track in quickened like an epipen injection to the heart as the upbeat rhythm of I Sat by the Ocean breaks in. The vocal melody is classic rock all over and the slide guitar is atypically major for a Queen’s rock song. Elements of pop have permeated the bands long held relationship with the dark and the mysterious, birthing a sound which is purely fun rock ‘n’ roll.

The Vampyre of Time and Memory brings us back to a quiet piano intro which hasn’t been heard since the softness of Lullabies to Paralyze. The vocal’s soft texture mirrors the piano, and is broken by minimalistic splashy drums and a short guitar solos which are as classically sexy as red rouge lipstick. In keeping with the sexy vibe of ‘Vampyre’, If I had a Tail slowly builds a deep slow riff over high pitched synth melody. The song’s lyrics are as euphemistic and strange as its title, with every inflection of the chorus being filled with melodrama. Considering the paced rhythm of the drums, this is a track they want people to dance to.

My God is the Sun is one of the albums heaviest and most erratic songs. Ferocious drums and harmonised guitar played in heavy down strokes conjure up images of the band from the early 2000, ‘full of piss and vinegar’.  Kalopsia on the other hand is very much the band’s new sound, with a drifting, dreamlike melody which is then cut too pieces by an almost theatrical chorus complete with lyric-less screaming. This track is reminiscent of a heavily distorted Pink Floyd rock opera as josh screams the lyrics, “forget those mammoth baboons, they’re off playing games”.

The falsetto vocal intro of Fairweather Friends however precedes a song which feels more ‘Tenacious D’ then Queens, the song’s muddled arrangement lacks any serious melodic intrigue. Thankfully for the album Smooth Sailing manages to claim back any fleeting loss of confidence, with a blisteringly  lesson in how to get people to drop what they’re doing and just nod their heads with satisfied smiles. The tracks stands as the highlight of the album, it restores all confidence in their ability to change style while keeping all of the grittiness and sensuality of earlier albums.

It could be said that I Appear Missing manages to usurp Smooth Sailing’s place as the best track on the album, but the two are very different beasts. The latter is a fresh new take on their earlier sound, the former is the ‘Queens’ most people are familiar with. I appear… is filled with the bands signature lap steel guitar and a crashing chorus which ascends and descends, by its end into a solo saturated with layers of distortion and synth. Even as the album’s title track plays out, the resonating pitch of I Appear… continues to ring out.

… Like Clockwork is exemplary in its attempt at changing, for the better the Queens of the Stone Age sound. The decision to throw away tried and tested musical conventions is, for any band all ways a gamble and thankfully the dividends of such a drastic change is a fresh sound which has kept this band at the top for over a decade. ‘Desert rock’ may have taken a backseat for this album, but the replacement ‘phantom rock’ which they have created shows that the band is still driving to be played in every speeding car and every drug fuelled party.