By Angela Espinoza, Arts Editor
5/5
Six long years have passed since Queens of the Stone Age’s last album, 2007’s Era Vulgaris. The Palm Desert-based psychedelic rock band returns this month with …Like Clockwork, their sixth album as a group, and honestly, one of their greatest albums to date.
If we knew this is what the band had coming during its six-year break, then of course the wait would have been much less painful. The album creaks to life with the five-minute “Keep Your Eyes Peeled,” a proper introduction to Josh Homme’s consistently haunting vocals that remain throughout the album. Things seemingly pickup with the second track, “I Sat By The Ocean,” which serves to be the closest thing to a “party” song on this album with its noticeably jauntier choice of riffs and belted chorus.
However, it’s the darker songs on Like Clockwork that truly standout, such as the back-to-back duo of first single “My God Is The Sun” and “Kalopsia,” both with lyrics crying out a god who, in the album’s canon—and as can be seen through the band’s amazing animated music videos for this album—has left the world to rot and decay in a horrible, apocalyptic nightmare (“Kalopsia” in particular has become my favourite track).
Like Clockwork has exceeded my expectations; it’s an incredible 45 minutes of full-circle doom that somehow never manages to bring the listener down. It’s another can’t miss from the group, so be sure to catch them performing live at this year’s Squamish Valley Music Festival.