“Era Vulgaris” is an ambitious album. Maybe too ambitious.
It’s been two years since Josh Homme’s Queens of the Stone Age released “Lullabies to Paralyze,” a Gothic nightmare of an album that showed Homme in full control of the Queens sound he had been mastering. From “Rated R” and “Songs for the Deaf” through “Lullabies,” Homme carved out a niche for his band in the musical landscape. On “Era Vulgaris,” he’s trying something different.
Homme has been very careful about leaving his swim wings on with this album. Songs like lead single “Sick Sick Sick” and “Misfit Love” evoke the feelings of the Queens of the Stone Age that music listeners have come to know. But this is the second Queens album since the departure of bassist Nick Oliveri, and his absence is becoming more and more apparent. While Homme has always been the captain of the good ship Queens, Oliveri’s presence was always felt down below, shoveling coal into the furnace. Now in full control, Homme is ready to take the band in different directions.
“Battery Acid” brings to mind memories of Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka with no earthly way of knowing which direction he is going, while “Make It Wit Chu” is a love song with the blunt honesty expected from pre-symbol Prince. On “3’s & 7’s,” Queens takes a guitar riff that borders on copyright infringement from former drummer Dave Grohl’s old band Nirvana and builds on it, creating an epic meeting place between the old and new Queens of the Stone Age.
Like any good experiment, however, Homme’s monster grows out of his control at times. “Turnin’ On The Screw,” the first song on the album, sets the tone for everything to come after it for better and for worse. Beginning with a monkish chant and an excited “Woo!” the song comes out the gate with a confident-but-not-cocky swagger that never lets up. Unfortunately, after minute five, the swagger becomes tired and feels like the band is doing nothing more than puffing its chest. The album follows this pattern as it crawls to the finish line with the final songs bleeding together.
As a whole, the album feels like a warm up. Homme and the rest of Queens of the Stone Age have attempted something different, and like all new adventures, it doesn’t always work. It’s easy to picture the band sitting around a table, throwing out ideas and leaving Homme, seated at the head of the table, to make something of them all. But he can’t do it on his own, so he put it down on wax to help him come up with what he was looking for.
“Era Vulgaris” is a good album that wants to be a great album. It wants to be the album that pushes Queens of the Stone Age to places they have never been before. But they’re not there. Not yet.