Queens Of The Stone Age, Songs For The Deaf (Interscope) 9+
Why is Queens Of The Stone Age the best hard rock band on the planet? Let me count the ways. They assimilate countless disparate influences like Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Neu!, the Ramones, Black Flag, The Butthole Surfers, The Cows and The Screaming Trees, while sounding like no one else. They avoid the boring clichés of standard aggro-rock, nü metal and stoner rock (Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, Nebula) and instead unpretentiously describe themselves as psychedelic pop and "robot-rock" (referring to their hypnotic, rhythmic riffing). Rock's best baritone, Mark Lanegan is a member. One of rock's best drummers, Dave Grohl, recorded and toured with them. Each album is better than the last. On their third, Songs For The Deaf, QOTSA expand their already rich, deep, wide palate into a collection of songs so diverse that they felt they needed goofy Who Sells Out style skits to tie the album together, simulating a drive from L.A. along Highway 62 to Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri's hometown of Palm Desert. With or without the skits, the album flows beautifully between blistering punk to gloriously mesmerizing psychedelia, pop and even a sort of Flamenco. Moving from strength to strength, "No One Knows" manages to merge, screaming and karate-chopping, Wire with ZZ Top. In addition to his standard unhinged noise-rock screamers, Oliveri also contributes two of the shockingly catchiest pop songs in "Gonna Leave You" and the downright Monkeys-like "Another Love Song." Lanegan handles lead on two brilliant slices of desolate intensity, "Song For The Dead" and "Hangin' Tree," wandering through the land of the dead, teetering between redemption and damnation. Both rival his stunning highlight of R's "In The Fade." The best songs are Homme's "First It Giveth," "The Sky Is Fallin'," "Go With The Flow" (possibly the best track, though it changes at every listen), the T. Rex glam-stomper "Do It Again," "God Is In The Radio" and the multi-part "Song For The Deaf," certain moments of which evoke the other Queen. Songs For The Deaf features some of the tightest, most accomplished ensemble playing you'll hear this year. Strong songwriting, impeccable sense of dynamics, surprising twists and turns, QOTSA are at the top of their game. Never apologetic about its hedonism, QOTSA nevertheless exude focus and restraint, intent on securing its status as a band that matters, promising to rock us for years to come.
