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Rating: Era Vulgaris, the fifth studio album by Queens Of The Stone Age, a band born years ago from the ashes of the defunct Kyuss, creators of stoner rock. "Era Vulgaris" will be available in stores on June 12, 2007, but thanks to the wonders of the internet, I was able to listen to it in advance.
Excluding the live album "Over The Years And Through The Woods", dear old Homme had left us with "Lullabies To Paralyze," a good album, very eclectic and changing in melodies, albeit less stoner than the rest of the discography. "Era Vulgaris" builds on the soundscapes dictated by the last studio album and broadens its horizons, returning to its roots while evolving in certain aspects. During the 11 tracks of the album (the Japanese and English editions will also include a track recorded with Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and "Running Joke", absent in other versions), we will have the opportunity to listen to hard rock, stoner and traces of psychedelia. Excellent credentials, therefore.
The opening track is titled "Turning On The Screw". A slow piece, characterized by classic stoner riffs repeated to a pleasant exhaustion. A good intro that synthesizes the sounds of Era Vulgaris. Immediately after, we jump into the first extract of the album; "Sick, Sick, Sick". Sick riff, fast, very simple. But with an effectiveness that hasn't been felt in quite some time. As a single to attract the average listener, it is perfect. Short, clear, and concise, it vaguely reminds of the opener of "R". "I'm Designer" is another potential single. Dirty riffs mix with simple bass lines, as do the drum parts. The chorus is very catchy and gets into your head after a couple of listens at most. With "Into The Hollow", you begin to feel the psychedelia mentioned at the start. A great track that feels much like cleaned-up Kyuss. We then move on to "Misfit Love", one of the most stoner and most beautiful tracks on the album. Homme is more inspired than ever and creates one of the finest tracks of his career.
Listening to "Battery Acid", you'll be reminded of the band's first and electrifying debut. A relentless rhythm supported by precise riffs in sync with the drum's tempo. "Make It Wit Chu", however, is a true reprise of a track that appeared on "Desert Sessions 9 & 10". The new version has made it more beautiful and less raw than the hasty original recorded in a few days in the Joshua Tree desert. Characterized by a slow and paced rhythm, it will serve as an excellent pause before the final rush. "3's & 7's", already a candidate for future release, picks up the thread of the album and brings back fast rhythms, powerful but not invasive riffs, and sounds very close to the successful "Songs For The Deaf". Now begins the album's double psychedelic episode; "Suture Up Your Future" and "River In The Road". The former is characterized by a very rhythmic rise and fall, the latter has an intro that recalls the psychedelia of Kyuss and is perfect for synthesizing the QOTSA\Kyuss juxtaposition. The last track of the album (in the standard edition) is "Run Pig Run", an orgy of typically hard rock sounds.
In short, QOTSA have returned with a great album. Homme confirms himself as the Midas King of rock, always extremely inspired and in form. I would say there's just a breath of air missing to place them there, in the rock Olympus alongside the greats.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Turnin' on the Screw (05:20)
You got a question? Please don't ask it
It puts the lotion in the basket
You say bigger's better but bigger's bigger
White boy dressed up like a
Figure drawn inside a toilet on the wall
The world is round,
My square don't fit at all
They say those who can't just instruct others & act like victims or jilted lovers
You can't lose it if you never had it
Disappear man. Do some magic
You want a reason? How's about because
You ain't a has been if you never was
I sound like this
Scared to say what is your passion
So slag it all
Bitter's in fashion
Fear of failure's all you've started
The jury's in, VERDICT:
Retarded,
I'm so tired, I'm wired too
I'm a mess I guess I'm turning on the screw
02 Sick, Sick, Sick (03:35)
Young, dumb, don't see a problem
Bloodshot, stare like a hoodlum
Simple as this; I'm in love with the risk
I know what I've done,
But tell me what did I miss?
So please don't save something
Waste not, save nothing
Lose the halo, don't need to resist
I lick on my lips, and I grip on your hips.
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
First thing we succumb to
Shall, erase, and undo
Days are unreleased, if there's no police
Race to slip into whatever fits you
Make something, make someone
Beg on a knee, baby baby please
Pout your bottom lip
While cracking the whip
You know what we want,
It's candy to cum to
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
A total eclipse in the teeth of the risk
The tongue is a twist, perpetual bliss
Forever midnight
Forever midnight
Forever midnight
Forever...
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick, sick, sick
Don't resist
Sick sick, sick (I'm gonna take)
Don't resist (I don't wanna choose)
Sick, sick, sick (I'm gonna take)
Don't resist (I don't wanna change)
03 I'm Designer (04:04)
My generation’s for sale
Beats a steady job.
How much have you got ?
My generation don’t trust no one
It's hard to blame
Not even ourselves
The thing that’s real for us is: Fortune and Fame
All the rest seems like work.
Its just like Diamonds
In shit
I’m high class I’m a Whore
Actually both
Basically I'm a Pro
We’ve all got our own style
Of Baggage
Why hump it yourself?
You’ve made me an offer that I can refuse
Cos either way I get screwed
COUNTER PROPOSAL:
I go home & Jerk Off
It’s truly a lie. I counterfeit myself
It’s truly a lie. I counterfeit myself
You don’t own, you don’t own, you don’t own
You don’t own, you don't own what none can buy
You don’t own, you don't own
NEITHER DO I
High and mighty you say selling out is a shame. Is that the name of your book?
Push a silver spoon in your ass. No more holding us down
dog. down mutt. Nice mutt
You’re insulted You can’t be bought or sold.
TRANSLATION: offer too low
You don’t know what you’re worth.
It isn’t much
My piano is for sale.
How many times must I sell myself
before my pieces are gone ?
I’m one of a kind !!!
I’m designer!
Never again will I repeat myself
Enough is never enough
Never again will I repeat myself
It used to be the plan was: SCREWING THE MAN
Now its HAVE SEX WITH A MAN (after he buys you dot-com for sale at a low, low price)
It’s truly a lie, I counterfeit myself
It's truly a lie, I counterfeit myself
You don’t own , you don’t own, you don’t own me
You don’t own what none can buy
You don’t own, you don't own what none can buy
NEITHER DO I
04 Into the Hollow (03:42)
Au revoir, Adieu, Goodnight
I’m too wrong, to get right
But I cant wait forever
I’ve always been alone
A fool believes he’s clever
Don’t you wanna go into the Hollow ?
I won’t go alone
Aren’t you gonna follow ?
I live behind my eyes
Be sure to keep the surprise
I break what I have borrowed
That’s why I always go
alone into tomorrow
Don’t you wanna go into the Hollow ?
I won’t go alone
Aren’t you gonna follow ?
Into the Hollow
06 Battery Acid (04:06)
Make you into dark
Straight into your heart
Sorry all you are
I don't really care
I know you are
Robots, robots
Brainwashed babies, blood from a leech
Spoken rabies
Spastic, plastic, battery acid
Yank on the leash
Dragging you backwards
Oh my, closed eyes never see it coming
There's no thing you can say
You can't wish me away
Every masochist gets a turn
Sadistic twist, you'll never learn
Battery acid
Battery acid
Battery acid in my veins
Unidentified remains
Yes button broke to automatic
Irrational dosage of furious static
Erasing what you are
You were
''(Jealous)'' To feel the way you do
''(Dementia)'' The lie you call the truth
''(Beautiful)'' Nothing except yourself, and nobody else
I got nobody else
There's no thing you can say
You can't wish me away
Every masochist gets a turn
Sadistic twist, you'll never learn
Battery acid
Battery acid
07 Make It Wit Chu (04:50)
You wanna know if I know why?
I can't say that I do
Don't understand the evil eye
Or how one becomes two
I just can't recall what started it all
Or how to begin the end
I ain't here to break it
Just see how far it will bend
Again and again, again and again
I wanna make it
I wanna make it wit chu
Anytime, anywhere
I wanna make it
(Again and again)
I wanna make it wit chu
Sometimes the same is different
But mostly it's the same
These mysteries of life,
That just ain't my thing
If I told you that I knew
About the sun and the moon I'd be untrue
The only thing I know for sure
Is what I won't do
Anytime, anywhere
I wanna make it
(Again and again)
I wanna make it wit chu
Anytime, anywhere
I wanna make it
(Again and again)
I wanna make it wit chu
I wanna make it
(Anytime, anywhere)
I wanna make it wit chu
I wanna make it,
I wanna make it wit chu
Again and again, and again, and again, and again
08 3's & 7's (03:34)
Lie, lie to my face
Tell me it ain't nothing
That's what I wanna hear
Take the lie to the grave
That's what an old friend told me
Look what it did for him
The truth hurts so bad
Wouldn't you say?
So why tell it?
If ignorance is bliss
Then I'm in heaven now
Run, you'll never escape
You see you'd go nowhere
Soon you will appear
Broke, laid to waste
Turn into sweet nothings
Kiss you goodbye
The truth hurts so bad
Wouldn't you say?
So why tell it?
If ignorance is bliss
Then I'm in heaven now
I keep going over and over again
To never ending places I've never been
No one's catching on, calling my bluff
The devil made me only we never met
What you do, say it with a smile boy
Making us all forget
What you do, say it with a smile boy
Making us all forget
Making us all forget
Making us all forget
09 Suture Up Your Future (04:37)
I'm gonna suture up my future
I ain't jaded, I just hate it
See, I been down too long
It's kinda hard to explain
Burned and buried, all I carried
All my evil through a needle
As if pulled through the eye
What was and what will
They're all gone
Don't sweat it
Thread it to forget it
To feel like you're already gone
To the rest of
The rest of the life that you've got
Take a picture
Bury it all away, bury it all away
Try to fake it, I just can't take it
I don't care if it hurts
Just so long as it's real
I won't waste it, I turn to face it
I'd sharpen the knife
Then used it to bone, made it dull
Tried explaining unexplained
Got caught in the plan
All this talking at once
I've been giving my love away
To the things that tear it apart
I'm gonna suture up my future
Thread it to forget it
To feel like you're already gone
To the rest of
The rest of the life that you've got
Tie the loose ends
Bury it all away
It's like there's
It's like there's
10 River in the Road (03:20)
Fast approaching Monsters marching in a row
Grab what slips your mind
And what your memory won’t hold
Run darling run
I'll stall them if I can
You'll escape and I'll be left rotting on the vine
Run darling run
I'll stall them if I can
You'll escape and I'll be left rotting on the vine
Avert the childrens eyes
Forget left untold
Don't look back to see
The blood River in the Road
Seek revenge with my Blood
River in the Road
11 Run, Pig, Run (04:40)
When I was young we used to play the game of hide and seek
Someone go hide, I count to ten
You probably never played, instead you talk a game of sheep
A skill you almost do perfect
Run, pig, run
Here I come
Ooh, ah, ooh, ah
Ooh, ah
I am no saint and make no claims to being in the right
It's just for now, I am wrong-less
You probably wondering with what to do, this has with you
I wanna play the game you missed
Run, pig, run
Here I come
There is no safe place
There is no safe place
There is no safe place to hide
Ooh, ah, ooh, ah
Wooh, ah
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Other reviews
By Vito Alberto
"Turnin’ On The Screw" is a perfect example of Josh's sought synthesis between vocal harmonies and Robot Rock sound.
Era Vulgaris currently reveals highs and lows, but these latter are largely negligible if you have particularly loved Lullabies To Paralyze.
By azzo
Josh Homme, convinced he has invented a style, the so-called robotic rock, continues to repeat the same old riffs incessantly, without any break.
So much so that guests like Julian Casablancas and Trent Reznor just settle for doing some backup vocals, for which the singer of Negramaro would have sufficed.
