Album: Songs for the Deaf - Queens of the Stone Age

Label: Interscope Records

Released: 2002

In days of these, when “hard rock” is considered by many to be made by the likes of Staind and Creed, hope is placed on those that have ridden against the formulaic.  Such is the case with Queens Of The Stone Age and their new album (their third), Songs For the Dead.  After the mega-cool of Rated R, many on the fringe have been chomping at the bit in anticipation of hearing new tunes from head-Queens members, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri.  When word got out earlier this year that former Nirvana drummer, and current head of Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl would not only be behind the drum-kit on the new record, but touring with the band as well, those expectations kicked into a hyper-frenzy.

So, does Deaf deliver on the promise of R?  In a word, no.  But, that certainly does not mean that Queens have gone the way of Nickelback, either.  The frenetic, deafening (no pun intended) roar of Rated R is replaced with divergent dirges, swamp-rock guitar work, sacrificial choral chants and tight, break neck speed rhythms courtesy of the always fluid Grohl. 

Centered on a theme of the giant succubus that is modern-day radio, Deaf begins with someone entering a car and switching around the radio dial.  Oliveri’s voice screams out after a few muffled bars of instrumentation, jolting anyone within earshot into a perfect military salute on You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar, But I Feel Like A Millionaire.

No One Knows is precision playing at its finest.  Every instrument cracks like a whip.  Especially the drums, which are mixed so tightly, that they sound as if the very skins will burst.

But, songs such as Go With The Flow, Gonna Leave You and Another Love Song, never take off in any substantial way.  All three are just anemic throwaways, with exceptionally weak choruses and dull hooks.  Love Song, looks bad in particular, because it sounds like a near exact copy of The Yardbirds’ classic, Heart Full Of Soul.

Do It Again is salvaged by its background of yelps and Grohl’s machine-like drumming.  However, vocally, the song never sparks, leading to the biggest problem on the album.  Nothing vocally here is as sharp as they were on Rated R.  Mark Lannegan, usually warmly emotive, does not even offer up any help here.  Which is a shame, because that alone would have made some of the more lackluster songs that much more tolerable.

As it stands, this is a solid rock-out effort, put together by an extremely talented group of musicians.  It’s just a shame that they didn’t, in the words of Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel, “give it that extra push over the cliff”.

Brett Hickman