Era Vulgaris
****
Had Queens of the Stone Age not formed nine years ago, it would be necessary now for science to create something like it. The band fills a vital need: It produces loud, dumb rock for smart people, much as Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and Van Halen before it. QOTSA may inspire passion in its fans, but it’ll never become like U2; there’s too much fun to be had playing sexed-up metal boogie for the band to waste its time politicking at the G8 conference.
That being said, I’d like to give the band a Nobel Prize for Era Vulgaris. It’s exactly what the world needs right now. From the crunchy guitars and shaking tambourines of “Turning on the Screw” to the roiling industrial chaos of “Run Pig Run,” this is QOTSA doing what it does best: grabbing you by the reproductive organs and shaking you like a rag doll. Frontman Homme is in amazing voice—check out his Soundgarden-like nuances in “I’m Designer”—while Joey Castillo’s drums land on your ear like playful slaps, and Troy Van Leeuwen’s guitars seem to swirl around your head (occasionally slicing through in their haste).
QOTSA is the band we’ve needed since before the grunge era, and Era Vulgaris is its Van Halen II—a screaming, orgasmic eruption of rock power that will destroy car stereos, inspire grand feats of air guitar and provide a soundtrack to youthful coitus for years to come.