Queens of the Stone Age know how to rock.
In August, they put out one of the best albums of the year and produced the finest hard rock performance of 2002 despite what Dick Clark and his cronies think.
Songs For the Deaf is a tour de force of rock’s most head-bangable, sign-o’-the-beast provoking manifestations.
Queens’ prodigious main members Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri exorcise the demons of classic rock and metal on every track, molding them into modern masterpieces of stylistic cross-pollination.
The proclaimed gods of stoner rock (whatever that means), Queens of the Stone Age can jam a song out ad infinitum or completely change gears at the drop of a line.
Rifling through an extensive catalogue of musical influences, Queens of the Stone Age rocks intelligently, its creative musicianship and eccentric rhythms preventing anyone from labeling it as over-derivative.
Homme’s chameleon voice wails, screams or growls as need be, while Oliveri’s dense, meaty base lines rumble with perfection. It’s the perfect complement to the extraordinary licks and solos of Homme’s ax.
By the way, Dave Grohl plays drums on the album. The Foo Fighters front man, invited to record the album after his public praise for the band, beats the skins with a quirky power never before heard – arguably his best percussive performance to date, even counting that other band he used to be in.
“Millionaire,” the album’s first track, screams through speakers with the force of a refreshing punch to the face, while the slick-sounding, eerie “No One Knows” counters with the impossibility of a noiseless headbanger.
“First It Giveth” gleams with metallic perfection while the bluesy “Song For the Dead” glistens with evil harmonies before breaking into a death metal jam that could cause them to rise.
From there the album combines various styles of rock with pop sensibilities, from the wispy “Hangin’ Tree” to the Toadies-esque “Go With the Flow” to the quirky “Another Love Song,” where Homme sounds a little like Elvis Costello.
“God Is In the Radio,” arguably the album’s best track, sounds like Deep Purple jamming with the Doors – with heavy, dense riffs and the creepiest use of piano since Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.
The Queens show that they can hang with the gods of rock they have so long worshipped. God may be in the radio, but the devil certainly possesses Homme’s guitar as he wrenches out a solo that could only come from the netherworld.
Just when you think the album couldn’t get any heavier, here comes “Song For the Deaf,” perhaps the most evil-sounding song ever recorded.
With bowel-shaking riffs and tortured screams, Homme channels the spirit of Layne Staley in eerie, Alice In Chains-style harmonies that excite as much as scare.
Songs For the Deaf is a complete album, something that cannot be said of many contemporary bands’ efforts.
With its multitude of styles and sounds, Queens of the Stone Age stands at the forefront of rock’s new age and possibly as the most talented band out there.
And if its progression is any indication, it may just be the most exciting thing around.