I have always imagined Eagles Of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes as Josh Homme’s Tyler Durden. Hughes leads a harder, more sinister existence – something Homme has had to let go of in order to become this generation’s Frank Zappa.
Eagles Of Death Metal’s fourth studio album, Zipper Down, revolves around the same punchy riffs and Southern drawl Hughes is known for, but the production value is noticeably enhanced.
Case in point is lead single and opening song Complexity: compared to the fuzz drenched, guitar-heavy norm of previous EODM albums, here you can visualise the Ableton session where each instrument starts and finishes. Is it effective? Is it welcome? In theory, one ought to answer no, but it works in the context of an album that feels like Homme has done the studio equivalent of a kick flip.
However, once the cleanliness out of the way, Silverlake (K.S.O.F.M) re-affixes the beer and jizz stained jeans EODM fans are used to wearing; with sneering vocals and a guitar riff that sounds like a three-day coke bender. It’s classic EODM, and is followed by the equally rambunctious Got A Woman.
I Love You All The Time is an album highlight, opening with an accented voice announcing the song’s title before Hughes drawls over a half-time acoustic riff. It’s a very satisfying cruisey number that calls to mind the country tinged ’70s psych of Cockney Rebel’s Make Me Smile. Other highlights include The Rolling Stones-indebted Oh Girl, and the closing tune The Reverend, which shows a different side to Hughes and his inseparable wingman Homme.
This is a bold and complex album from an act that’s renowned for being bold but certainly not complex until now.
BY DAN WATT
