{"id":62938,"date":"2017-10-12T15:04:45","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T20:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=62938"},"modified":"2017-10-26T19:53:54","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T00:53:54","slug":"queens-of-the-stone-age-villains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2017\/10\/12\/queens-of-the-stone-age-villains\/","title":{"rendered":"Queens of the Stone Age: Villains"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Villains<\/em> is the seventh full length record from the iconic stoner rock band, Queens of the Stone Age. This album follows the release of 2013\u2019s \u2026Like Clockwork<\/em>. Josh Homme (guitar, lead vocals) formed Queens of the Stone Age in 1996 in Palm Desert, California and is the only original member left in the band. On this album, he is joined by Troy Van Leeuwen (guitars,
\nkeyboard), Michael Shuman\u00a0(bass), Dean Fertita\u00a0(keyboard, guitar), and Jon Theodore\u00a0(drums). The band keeps their ominous stoner rock vibes and electrifying riffs that defined their style in the early 2000s and incorporate several dance influences. Villains<\/em> goes for a more upbeat and
\naggressive tone compared to the dark and relaxed \u2026Like Clockwork<\/em>. Lyrically, the album is just as dreary and deep as their previous outing. The record only contains nine tracks, but just three of the tracks run under five minutes. Homme brought Mark Ronson on-board to produce the album and take the band into new territory. Longtime fans of Queens of the Stone Age may be turned off by this choice, given Ronson\u2019s background in pop music. However, the production works by giving Homme and the band a fresh sound that they desired to explore, without sounding even remotely close to modern pop music. Where the production fails is with the drums; they sound drowned out in most of the tracks and aren\u2019t as prominent here as on early Queens’ albums.<\/p>\n

\u201cFeet Don\u2019t Fail Me\u201d kicks off the album with a psychedelic intro that builds into a groovy funk sound with a killer riff. The song really sets up the energy and dance rock vibe that flows through this album. \u201cThe Way You Used to Do\u201d feels like a mash-up of 1930s swing music and hard rock. It works great as the first single off the record. \u201cDomesticated Animals\u201d is sinister and grows wilder as the song goes on. It has some great lyrics about greed and taming the animal inside. \u201cFortress\u201d has some superb lyrics comparing the heart to a fortress and how \u201cevery fortress falls, it is not the end,\u201d but it drags on and slows the pace of the album. It feels like it belongs on \u2026Like Clockwork<\/em> or The Black Keys\u2019 Turn Blue<\/em>. \u201cHead Like a Haunted House\u201d is very fast paced and explosive. It\u2019s a heart-pounding foot-tapping song with urgency and a wicked riff. \u201cUn-Reborn Again\u201d is a very menacing and evil sounding tune. It\u2019s got an interesting and enjoyable vocal delivery with some powerful instrumentals. The strings and saxophone towards the end of the song are a great addition. \u201cHideaway\u201d doesn\u2019t stand out at all
\nand is forgettable. It\u2019s fairly enjoyable, but it feels like a standard filler. \u201cThe Evil Has Landed\u201d sounds very sharp and is the best track on the record. The high-pitched guitar and a few different riffs shift up the song throughout its playtime. Homme\u2019s vocals sound great here. The track feels like it has the ferocity of \u201c3\u2019s and 7\u2019s\u201d with the pace of \u201cI Sat by the Ocean.\u201d \u201cVillains of Circumstance\u201d is a shift down in intensity, but it\u2019s a great closing song that brings the themes of villainy in the album together. It starts ominous, gets more upbeat as it goes along, and then finishes off with what sounds like a horror movie soundtrack. The track seemed boring at first, but it becomes more enjoyable with each listen.<\/p>\n

Overall, Villains<\/em> is a great record with very solid songs. It\u2019s not the same caliber as \u2026Like\u00a0<\/em>Clockwork<\/em> or Songs for the Deaf<\/em>, but Queens of the Stone Age always delivers without disappointment. The album brings a new element to a band that\u2019s expanding their range of sound without losing touch of their roots.
\n
\nRecommended If You Like: Eagles of Death Metal, Royal Blood, Them Crooked Vultures
\nRecommended Tracks: 1 (Feet Don’t Fail Me), 2 (The Way You Used to Do), 5 (Head Like a Haunted House), 6 (Un-Reborn Again), 8 (The Evil Has Landed)
\nDo Not Play: None
\nWritten by Dawson Frick on 10\/12\/2017 <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Villains is the seventh full length record from the iconic stoner rock band, Queens of the Stone
\nAge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20839,"featured_media":62939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3729,3741,4,3235,181],"tags":[7700,7302,7701],"class_list":["post-62938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cbi","category-cbi-music","category-music","category-music-reviews","category-rock-rotation","tag-dawson-frick","tag-queens-of-the-stone-age","tag-villains"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/okay.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20839"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}