The long-awaited seventh album from Queens of the Stone Age is finally here and it’s…fine. It’s good, it’s not great.
With a back catalogue that includes classics like Songs for the Deaf and …Like Clockwork it’s hard to find a way to keep things fresh, with the band even going as far as bringing in the master of collaborations, Mark Ronson to provide a new angle. Some tracks make the grade, but unfortunately others fall flat. Whether victims of trying too hard to keep it fresh or just not enough good ideas to go around, things get a little disappointing in parts.
The Way You Used To Do is far and away the best song to be found here and embodies everything QOTSA are great at. Sexy rhythms with that stoner desert sound, all sitting under Josh Homme’s baritone greatness. This doesn’t stay consistent, with second single The Evil Has Landed taking a disappointingly long time to build, becoming fleetingly great right before it ends.
There are a few stand outs, a few lowlights, everything else firmly in the middle. With all the certified crackers in Queens back catalogue, some tracks here are in danger of disappearing from memory.
