After disappearing from the rock scene for three years, Queens Of The Stone Age make a triumphant return with its album …Like Clockwork, a masterpiece that explores friendship, love, lies, loneliness and life all with heavy bass lines and superb guitar riffs.
The best thing about the members of Queens is their notion to explore all genres of rock from funk rock to hard rock, and this album captures most of the subgenres. The album is consistent with each track as they build off one another while the lyrics have a poetic essence that question human nature.
“Keep Your Eyes Peeled” starts off the album with bottle crashes and fiery guitar riffs and a thick bass line, setting up the dark and seductive tone of the album as the lead singer’s (Josh Homme) signature voice sings, “If life is but a dream, wake me up.”
Much lighter than the previous song, “I Sat By the Ocean” features a ZZ Top influence that mourns a lost love built on a lie full of falsetto from Homme. “The Vamprye of Time and Memory” starts with a melancholic piano riff and Homme softly saying, “I want God to come and take me home because I’m all alone in this crowd,” with a guitar solo that’ll make you cry and question love.
Because every song has its own theme, “If I Had A Tail” explores superficiality while “Fairweather Friends” talks of fake friends in a true rock song with guitar solos and angst. And mentions of sex, too.
Fast-paced guitar riffs and elongated symbol crashes cause madness in “My God Is The Sun”, especially when tropical instruments are thrown into the mix. The final verse intensifies and comes to a brilliant climax with slowing instruments and voices only to psyche you out with an even faster ride to the finish. To juxtapose the thrill of the previous song, “Kalopsia” is a beautiful song that drags you into an angry chorous and leaves you floating verse after verse with experimental and psychedelic sounds and harmonies. The track with the most groove is “Smooth Sailing.” With a Bee Gees-esque falsetto, this is just plain sexy and seductive as Homme sing of his hickies and bruises.
After the sleepy “I Appear Missing,” the final song, “…Like Clockwork,” features a piano riff to match a deeply depressing Coldplay or Elton John. It’s as if the band has figured out all of life’s questions they had been asking the entire album. According to the lyrics, “everything is going down hill from here.” Listeners are left with a pessimistic message, but isn’t rock a very pessimistic genre?
If you’re in the mood to be angry, yet thoughtful, stream the album below.