Queens of the Stone Age are one of those bands that I slept on for far too long. I mean, I was familiar with No One Knows when it became a radio hit and chart success back in 2002-03, but I also had an unhealthy addiction to Slayer at this point and sadly QOTSA just weren't doing it for me. Once my musical horizons broadened a bit, I went back and revisited all of Songs for the Deaf and loved it. But with this latest release from the heavy rock titans, titled ...Like Clockwork, I can confidently say I have a new favourite QOTSA record.
It's not that often I find an album where I love every song. ...Like Clockwork is one of those albums. The band has developed a reputation for crafting some of the best modern rock songs of the 2000s, with a heavy garage rock sound and psychedelic tinges. But in comparison to all of QOTSA's past discography, this album is generally much darker, gloomier and more dramatic, making the record stand out as a whole. And when it comes down to individual tracks, Clockwork holds it's own against even the catchiest and heaviest of QOTSA songs. Tracks like My God Is The Sun, the album's natural apex placed directly in the middle of it all, has had plenty of radio play as the album's lead single. But this song is best heard in the context of the album; it's energetic and climatic build fits perfectly as the centrepiece for the entire record.
Although I love this record as a whole, I still have some favourite tracks that stood out to me upon multiple listens. The slow, sludgy march of Keep Your Eyes Peeled is the best way to open an album like this, like trudging through a swamp of heavy rock and thick, mucky distortion. Kalopsia takes you up into the clouds with gentle, breezy piano and guitar harmony before suddenly allowing you to plummet back down to earth with an amazingly heavy guitar hook. Fairweather Friends sounds like it might betray the dreary atmosphere of this album with a beautiful piano harmony and epic chorus, only to end with a hilariously abrupt "I don't give a shit about them anyhow." And finally, the closing song and title track ...Like Clockwork starts as a heartfelt ballad with the potential to become very corny very quickly, but luckily it feels totally natural by this point with a beautifully melancholic piano/cello harmony. This song ends the album on an appropriately dark note, both lyrically ("one thing that is clear: it's all down hill from here") and musically with one last reverberating cello note.
Apparently, the title of the album reflects QOTSA's dark sense of humour, a fatalistic idiom that reveals the band members' attitudes when faced with difficult situations even after a major victory. But the title is also an indicator that ...Like Clockwork is one of the band's most focused works yet. It's a dark, gloomy and sometimes humorous album in a sick sort of way. And because it engaged me with every single crunchy guitar riff and soaring melody that it has to offer, it stands as my favourite Queens of the Stone Age album yet.
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