Queens of the Stone Age : Perfecth

For Queens of the Stone Age’s nearly 30 year career they have had plenty of ups, downs, over and outs, rinse and repeats. Coming from the ashes of Kyuss, frontman Josh Homme and bassist Nick Olivieri took the stoner/desert rock DNA from their childhood band and turned it into a cottage industry. Walking clumsily along the line between mainstream success and underground icons, QOTSA took what Kyuss cultivated and turned it into something even the masses could get behind.

Their self-titled, along with their successful sophomore record Rated R put them on the musical game board, while their third LP Songs For The Deaf made them (nearly) household names. From that point on the Queens trajectory has been one of steady climb, along with sonic and textural shifts in sound with the one long standing ingredient being Homme’s soulful wobble of a voice and his clunky, death-defying guitar style that is singular to him(and occasionally Billy Gibbons.)

After 2017s Villains the band took an extensive hiatus as Homme dealt with personal issues as well as medical ones. In Times New Roman saw the band back in full form with darker touches, heavier guitars, and Homme sharing his private life foibles in coded lyrics and turns of phrases. We now have Perfecth, the band’s 9th and most versatile and subtle album.

Fans that want loud guitars and breakneck rhythms ala “Sick, Sick, Sick” might be disappointed at first. But if you stick around you might just find yourself saying “Yes, yes, yes.”

Perfecth sounds like if Homme and co set out to make a late-70s Stones record, but also threw touches of Tom Waits and the orchestral arrangements of Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool. Opener “It’s Only Love” has a Tin Pan Alley feel to it, with touches Waits Swordfishtrombones in the jaunty instrumentation. The dour mood sets the tone here. “Insignificant Other” brings in the Stones vibes, with Homme in crooning falsetto mode. Josh Homme locks in with a Bowie-meets-Jagger-meets-Elvis-meets-Mephistopheles persona and keeps it going throughout. “Where The Goth Girls At?” has an almost Spoon swagger to it(note to self: get Homme and Britt Daniels in a studio together.)

There’s the upbeat and fun “Easy Street” of course and it’s a perfect example of how varied and expansive this record is. “Mono” has a nearly experimental feel in its ‘fly on the wall’ production while “Sunday” savors the galloping rhythm and dance-heavy feel(Queens were made to love you, baby.)

At 9 tracks and 36 minutes Perfecth is the Queens shortest album, which is telling as it’s one of their best. Repeated listens will prove that this album is, indeed, perfecth.