Traditionally, I appreciate small bands which create a huge sound in proportion to their number of members, and for some strange reason, I never really went near bands with a variety of shifting musicians. Queens of the Stone Age certainly changed that, as their latest album provides a refined delight of accessible, yet sufficiently heavy and differing tracks.
For me, this album solidifies their position as an arguably defining rock band of this generation, given how much variance these ten tracks have. ‘Keep Your Eyes Peeled’, is a slow, plodding track which occasionally bursts into energy, and is strangely compared to the Arctic Monkey’s ‘Do I Wanna Know?’ The relaxed pace of this track is defined by a looming array of dead notes, and while the pacing is similar, the comparably uplifting track ‘Kalopsia’ goes from blissful verse to chanting chorus at the flick of a switch: It’s a midnight carnival ride of a song. Speaking of Arctic Monkeys, Alex Turner provided backing vocals for the track, alongside the involvement of icons such as Dave Grohl and Elton John on various songs.
The dark undertones of the album greatly compliment the crunch of guitars alongside their stellar solos, most notably on ‘I Appear Missing’, my personal favourite on this album, chiefly due to its complexity and final solo which encourages anyone to play air guitar in public places. ‘My God is the Sun’ is essentially a prime example of modern rock music, if one was ever needed. It goes from Homme’s bellowing verse accompanied by suitably distorted bass into an all-involving chorus, kicked up dust as it sharply kicks you onto the next song.
‘The Vampyre of Time and Memory’ serves to slow the pace of the album down, and is a cracking piano-centred song. That’s another thing I’d recommend, that you listen to the entirety of this album in order, as while lyrics have never been the bands strongest feature, these tunes almost come together to form a story, which would go with the idea that the name ‘…Like Clockwork’ represents the troubles that the band faced when creating the album.
The album as a whole is a wonderful evolution from the band’s original post-grunge outlook, and is generally a enjoyable collection of refined tracks at its worse. It’s an improvement to see long-standing bands such as Queens maintain their ascension, whereas similarly big groups, such as Muse, appear to have lost touch with their origins. In short, ‘…Like Clockwork’ is a cracking album, and definitely worth your time.
