Now that the Queens Of The Stone Age are about to disembark in Spain again to present their eighth album, “In Times New Roman”, it’s a perfect time to go through the discography of Josh Homme’s band and rank their eight studio albums from worst (or less good) to better (or excellent).
Era Vulgaris (Interscope, 2007)
It is impossible not to talk about the mythical “Desert Sessions” when talking about Josh Homme and the Queens Of The Stone Age, improvisation sessions and debauchery in which Homme took other musicians to the Rancho de la Luna studio, in the middle of the desert, to record with them. For example PJ Harvey who participated in volumes 9 and 10 of them, which are still the best, and in which part of the material that would appear on this album was recorded for the first time, as one of the band’s great classics ” (I Wanna) Make It With Chu.” It’s normal for it to sound a bit disjointed and less inspired than usual, it’s a bit of a mixed bag album, yes, it does have interesting songs like the one mentioned, “Sick, Sick, Sick” or “3’s & 7’s”.
Villains (Matador, 2017)
The presence of Mark Ronson in the production already made many fans view this album with great suspicion, even so I have to admit that I quite like it, the guitars may sound less harsh than usual, but Homme remained true to himself , this time in addition to Black Sabbath and the Stooges there was also his enormous debt to the original rock & roll of the 50s, Homme had not gone through any tragedy and simply wanted to go out on the dance floor, have a good time. He may not be up there with “Songs For Dhe Deaf” or “…Like Clockwork” but it’s a really fun record and “The Evil Has Landed” one of his great songs.
Queens Of The Stone Age (Loosegroove, 1998)
Josh Homme tries to step out of the shadow of Kyuss and Stoner Rock and totally succeeds, achieving a totally recognizable sound in which the guitars and riffs are still rock hard but the melodies are more flexible and pop, creating a more hypnotic and elegant, the influences are clear, the Stooges are tattooed on fire, as seen in “If Only”, a plagiarism/homage to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” while the rest sounds like Black Sabbath jammed with the Neu! and the dogs It’s curious that Homme accepted the comparison with Krautrock groups despite the fact that he said he hadn’t heard them yet. The beginning of the album is overwhelming, “Regular John”, “Avon” and “If Only” are an unstoppable triumvirate that elevates the album. Although the second side doesn’t reach the same height, it has some notable songs like the heavy “Mexicola” or the disturbing “You Can’t Quit Me Baby” which already warned that there were other hidden faces in Homme’s music.
In Times New Roman (Matador, 2023)
The skies turn dark again for Homme and the times are not for dancing like in “Villains”, so a certain primitivism and rawness returns to the equation with Homme trying to adjust to the fact that his marriage has ended in the worst possible way. and there are several fallen friends along the way. “Obscenery” and “Paper Machete” are a great start, the former is tough and dark while the latter seems like the descendant of “Little Sister”, it is a new update of her more Sabbath side and her more Stooges side. The album sounds claustrophobic and furious, with Homme especially brilliant on vocals, but it may need a few more future classics, apart from the first single, “Emotion Sickness,” to be a little higher on this list. Still a brilliant update on his usual sound that sounds compact and dark, with a psychedelic twist.
Lullabies To Paralyze (Interscope, 2005)
Three years had passed since “Songs For The Deaf” but “This Lullaby” picked up right where “Mosquito Song” had left off. Of course, neither Oliveri nor Grohl were there and Lannegan appeared very little. At the time it was seen as a small slip, but it is that we came from a historical record. It is evident that it is a continuation album with that masterpiece but “Lullabies To Paralyze” is a great album on its own that wins if we don’t compare it with its older brother. “Burn The Witch”, “In My Head” and “Little Sister”, their most pop and catchy moment, are absolute classics for the band, but songs like “Medication”, “Long Slow Goodbye”, “I Never Came” , with an excellent Homme in falsetto, or “Everybody Knows That You’re Insabe”, his farewell message to Oliveri, are also very good.
Rated R (Interscope, 2000)
In the year 2000 the first of his three absolutely essential albums appeared, “Rated R”. Faced with the monolithic rock (this one from the Stone Age) of Kyuss, Homme opened up to a greater range of styles and delivered increasingly better compositions. The start with “Feel Good Hit of the Summer” and “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” is the best of his entire career, with the first being a punk metal ode, as if Motörhead and Nirvana had decided to join forces, to the Homme’s toxic diet on his trips to the desert, and the second being a great example of his sound, with slower, menacing verses that break into a majestic chorus in which Homme brings out his falsetto, never a guy who started as a guitarist he has ended up becoming such an extraordinary singer. Of course, beyond its two fundamental songs, “Rated R” is an absolute monster in which the fundamental Nick Oliveri makes his debut, playing bass and singing three songs, including the excellent “Auto Pilot”, as well as having the Mark Lannegan’s first appearance. The album with which they found themselves definitively and marked in stone, never better said, their sound.
…Like Clockwork (Matador, 2013)
When it seemed that there was no longer going to be a new album by Queens Of The Stone Age, those of Homme reappeared, after a six-year hiatus, with one of their absolute classics. “…Like Clockwork” was Homme’s way of dealing with the depression and darkness that followed the moment he nearly lost his life after undergoing knee surgery. It’s a dark and intense record that contains some of the best songs of his career like “If I Had A Tail,” as if Phil SPector gave “Da Doo Run Run” to Alice Cooper instead of the Crystals; “I Sat By The Ocean”, a fabulous theme in which they use a contrast between the lively music and melody and the sad and melancholic lyrics; “My God Is The Sun”, with one of his most iconic riffs; “I Appear Missing”, which sounds incredibly menacing; “Smooth Sailing”, with another of those trademark falsettos, or “The Vampyre of Time and Memory”, where Homme also shines in the slower moments, giving a new sound and amplitude to his music, achieving along the way the best rock album of the second decade of the 21st century.
Songs For The Deaf (Interscope, 2002)
Yes, it couldn’t be any other way, “Songs For The Deaf” is still the best album of his career, it’s clear that having a dream lineup, Dave Grohl on drums, Nick Oliveri on bass, Mark Lannegan singing and throwing a hand in composition, it’s a bonus but here, as in his entire career, the true captain remains a Homme with very clear ideas, making his guitar his trademark, with powerful and heavy riffs that sounded like Tony Iommi would have grown up listening to Nirvana. The other element that held the record together was Oliveri’s idea of tying it together through short snippets of fake radio, making it a kind of concept record about a drive from Los Angeles to the Mojave desert. With this they achieved a much more compact work and the perfect record to listen to at full volume while driving. “No One Knows”, the best song of his career, “First It Giveth”, with another trademark riff, “A Song for the Dead”, dark and heavy, “Hangin’ Tree”, a perfect vehicle for the Lannegan’s voice, “Go with the Flow”, where the echoes of the Stooges return, “Another Love Song”, an underrated, catchy and pop song that is my favorite song sung by Oliveri, or the acoustic closing with “Mosquito Song” (in which the name of the next album is already anticipated), this is one of the fundamental journeys of rock music of the 21st century.