Them Crooked Vultures
Them Crooked Vultures

That damn vulture on the cover is disturbing, just like their awful music if you really want to know.

"Them Crooked Vultures," secularized, are the piercing singer and guitarist Josh Homme ("QOSTA"), the frenetic drummer Dave Grohl ("Foo Fighters"), and the calm bassist John Paul Jones ("Led Zeppelin"). These three buddies play for fun, and they really make a good racket. Don't expect anything revolutionary, because this is a somewhat nostalgic work of the good old days and a bit snobbish; in short, it's a concentrate of "pure pure rock," seasoned with a pinch of clarity and two fists of madness.

This album is unfairly divided into two parts: one third is occupied by songs that probably feel the influence of the record labels; the remaining three thirds, instead (from "Elephants" onwards) are a triumph of hallucinogenic and schizophrenic sounds and everything else.

The first four tracks, which are equivalent, might entice the calmer listeners but, more importantly, might drive away the more frantic ones, I'm serious.

Delirium, folks, starts with "Elephants" and continues until the concluding "Spinning in Daffodils," the true gem of their work. In between, the chameleonic "Reptiles" stands out as the most successful, and "Interlude With Ludes," the manifesto of these old hunched musicians. However, friends, if you're particularly pissed off with the world or have a severe headache, steer clear of this album, because hearing Josh Homme screeching in "Caligulove" can have serious side effects, but if you're in the mood to rock, help yourself, and trust in these damn vultures and their free, light, sincere, disengaged music, thanks to their career, their friendship, and, let's be honest, their bank account.

"Them Queens of the Foo Zeppelin," in short, you're approved, but we want a second album without that concentrated pinch of clarity that screwed up the first four songs, banal and with incomprehensible commercial aspirations of the devil.