Album Review: Queens of the Stone Age - Like Clockwork...

As of its release, Queens of the Stone Age fans had gone six years without a single or album, and to be a conformist among fans, it’s a brilliant return to form.

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.

Album Review: The Joy Formidable - Wolf's Law

You know that song that you recently found? The one that you’re going to play over and over until you inevitably hate it? Well for me, Wolf’s Law by The Joy Formidable, contains eleven of those tracks which are doomed to be played on repeat for the foreseeable future.

The Welsh band released the mash-up of hits not too long ago, in January of this year, but given their relatively small fan base in comparison to other similar groups such as The Vaccines and Two Door Cinema Club, they appear to be a few fans short considering they're an emerging band on their second album.

So by that standard, they're far from a household name, and few people on the street will have heard of them, (if any). But of course, views and popularity doesn’t correlate with quality, so here’s why I think Wolf’s Law is certainly something to shout about.

Without going on about their previous stuff and live performances, let me say that it is barely imaginable that three people can make such a noise. Granted in some songs, cellos, violins and other string instruments require additional people, but the riffs and stomping noise created in the process is truly worthwhile. For me, the best example of this is in ‘The Leopard and the Lung’, a song based on the late political activist Wangari Maathai. It goes from a catchy harp section into one of the heaviest sections I have heard in the alternative rock genre. The guitar is outspoken and simple, the bass is minding its own business in the background while the drums are conveying the passion of the band in the best way that they can, all while the harp compliments it perfectly. The noise is simply wonderful, and you can easily tell that they’re beating the life out of their instruments in the process.

This album has been argued to be worse than the band’s previous work, The Big Roar, simply due to the incredible amounts of polish each track seems to have upon it. Everything fits and oozes guitar-pop accessibility, and as a result, it loses some of the quirkiness of the last album. Yet, for me, this is a fair trade-off, as everything is engineered to sound massive, and it’s not like The Big Roar is going anywhere.

It is a shame that girls with guitars are rare enough to gain special attention, but the fact that a search of the guitarist and vocalist, Ritzy Bryan, will result in more people seeking her guitar rig and setup rather than whether or not she has a boyfriend, is testament to her talent. While most younger bands seem to have the bass follow the main guitar, covering up any mistakes and simply boosting the noise, the deep sound from The Joy Formidable’s bass is self-dependent, and is much better off because of it. This is probably most notable in ‘Little Blimp’, which also has an incredibly joyful solo that you’ll immediately want to rock out to.

In short, it’s a solid album at its worse, and a compilation of great tracks which places spirit back into indie music at its best. The two main tracks, while not being my personal favourites, are ‘Cholla’ and ‘This Ladder is Ours’. 

While having somewhat odd names, the main riffs in these two tracks best display why the band can hold its own and support titans such as Muse and the Foo Fighters. These songs can initially appear to be a mash-up of ideas rather than fully thought-out ones, but this is by no means a negative comment. Even if these songs were haphazardly put together, there’s essentially no friction between all three instruments. ‘Maw Maw’ shows how the band can fill stages of any size, and is best put by the drummer, Matt Thomas, who says all that needs to be said in the track by track commentary; "It’s heavy".

Quieter songs like ‘Silent Treatment’ put previous tensions and annoyances out into the open and are the best track to fit with the album idea of ‘relationships on the mend and feeling reinvigorated’, as stated in the aforementioned commentary. As with the rest of the track list, this song feels like it’s coming from the heart of the band and despite whatever interpretation the listener has, it always has a solid and meaningful message.

I found Wolf’s Law catchy when it was released a few months ago, and it has solidified itself into my playlist of favourites. It certainly deserves all the attention it can get.