What's up everyone john from ARTV it is time for a review of the highly anticipated

seventh studio album by

Queens of the Stone Age a rock band that have bieen killing it since the ate 90s
it's the follow-up to 2013 fan-fucking-tastic album
like clockwork one of my favorite abums of the past five years this new one is
called villains and it is produced by Mark Ronson, many
of you know Ronson for hits like uptown funk with Bruno Mars maybe his own solo
stuff and you're thinking John isn't he more of a dance
producer and the answer to be quite simple is yes for the most part he's been
associated with that but he's also know for his guitar skill and
just a sense of funk to his production and his music in general and I've
appreciated his taste and talent over time even though he's definitely
had some misfires, I had some concerns after hearing the lead single the way you
used to do, it was a different song for Queens of the Stne Age
and I can see why some fans had some trouble getting into it and maybe adjusting to
that sound change but the more I think about it and the more
I see that song in the context of a happier and more brght record I understand wy
Queens of the Stone Age needed to tweak the formula bit in
order to just mix it up enough to keep everything flowing to keep everything
intesresting and like clockwork was such a dark album that's all Josh
Tommy, the leader of this band just beaten down and while I love that record to
death anoteher album like that who knows, it could have entirely
drained them and ended the band I don't want to think about what would happen in
that case but Josh Xiaomi has definitely still been going
through some dark times he's had injuries, he's had setbacks, he's really had a lot
of thinfs facing him but through all that I fee like we've gotten
his most introspective lyrical society yet even though there's plenty of social
commentary like on reborn again there's a lot of thinking that
deals with relationships and his own personality take for example fortress and
iincredibe song that has great bill and makes use of those synthesizers
so the first question that probably everybody is wondering though mark ronson how
did he handle that production well to be quite honest
he handled it nicely, he slid in there but it's not so abrupt and so different
outside of I would say the single the way you use to do that it's jarring to
the listener, there's sound here that will creep up on you but the only add to the
eeriness in aura of some of these tunes like for example one of
the other songs that we've got the evil has landed that was really the second pre-
release single from this thing and people were flocking to it loving
it and praising it much more than the way used to do but if you think about it
there's still elements of Ronson in that maybe it's in the crisper and
more clean feel that it has but at the same time and has a lt of those effects that
Queens of the Stone Age are known for it builds up it has that
hammering guitar riff that just finishes the thing out the base on this explodes
and that's something that you can say for this entire record valence
I'm loving the pumping bass work that's rotted into some of these moments that a
lot of modd and atmosphere take for example domesticated
animals one of the absolute best songs on here sure it's a bit repretitive in terms
of the lyrical content but at the same time I think that's done to build
emphasis and the musicality is just an ace up the sleeve so good imagine
domesticated animals it's a slow trickle you hear that guitar slowly, steadily
building gowing, there's a new vocal effects that work their way in as Josh Tommy
sings it is it dizzy and then there's just and atmosphere that
grows ut of that and I love that Michael Shuman is doing a great job on the bass
work here and I have to give a mention to Troy their guitarist as well
because he's one of my favorites of this century to be quite honest, he's been with
Queens longer than anyone else other Josh Haami and on their
least collaborative project to date i would say he is making himself a standout
especially whenever they're going in a little bit of a different direction
in terms of the musicality it's still guitar driven but and maybe in a little bit
of a more Trancy tupe of way as the way used to do grown on me at all
since I did my track review of that over on beyond a RTV I would say slightly I
gave the song a light 3.5 and I would potentially upgrade that to a four
if you want t put a number on it but really it comes with repeated listens not only
this song but the entire album something where even the songs where
you might not feel like you're drawn to them like for example myself and hide away
that was not a highlight for me whatsoever in fact I found myself
wanting to skip over that one but as a bit more of a chance I saw its charms I
started to love the vocals and the lyrics on it and that's something
that I can really say for every song here even if I'm not a hundred percent onboard
with the music outside of I don't know maybe had like a haunted
house in terms of its lyrics I'm pretty much on board with the poetry the stories,
and the clever wordplay that Haami is using here, he's a musical genius
and I realy am thoroughly impressed with what he's done on villains, now I keep
mentioning Josh Homme ll by name and you're thinking are you
discrediting the rest of the band by no means because I know how haami works in the
studio and these Minds put together can quite often clash
but at the same time they get a lot of great results -and John Theodore is another
erson that really stepped up here for the drumming on this
record because he went with a different pattern in style because he had to if he
was playing the same driving rhythms that say he was playing on hit
the last record that they did like clockwork then it probably wouldn't have worked
out as wll and Joey Castillo did some of the tracks there I think
and Dave Grohl but I mean in terms of playing those live like he's been doing out
on tour it's something where you see him maybe just slowing down
his pace a bit and I think that really every member of the band came together and
put together a surprising collection of songs because I for one was
a little bit nervous like I said whenever I heard the lead single but listening
through all of these moments from the more sense driven almost valid
fortress that just explode than its last half - head like a haunted house which is
a song that's existed since 2007 it was just and instrumental and them they
put the lyrics and how it feels like an old almost Elvis rock and roll type song I
don't know I'm very surprised and very good way the upwards nflection
in my voice implies that I'm surprised because I wasn't expecting to love villains
like I have and just bein magnetized and drawn to it like I
mentioned the evil has land a bombastic six-plus minute track that rocks out but
also has an interesting set of lyrics paired up with it and unrewarded
in something that talks about getting younger all the things that we do to
manipulate the age of social media wheter it be trying to find the Fountain of
Youth by aging backwards essentially or the way that we presen ourselves online I
think the lyrics here are quite snarky and sarcastic and come
off just like Josh Tommy wants them to he's no different here he's definitely grown
up a bt because he's able to reflect let a bit of himself out and we see
that slice f life coming through on some of these moments like portraits that I
already mentioned love that synth driven direction there and then
villains of circumstance another momment that goes six plus minutes clses out this
album that's existed since 2014 apparently it's been tweaked
some of course but this song is monumental because it feels like the whoe album
built to this and then we get that crazy little slow break and
then it breaks down even further and it's the perfect closing moment two villains
I've shaved one of my absolute favorites for last it's the only
song that I haven't mentioned by name up to this point even though this is only a 9
song album we get plenty of content plenty of music to listen to 48 minutes
but it's that opening moment that's one of the absolute keys for getting into this
album obviously it's the opening track they set the bar for what's to
come and how high do they set it well set it out of frame beat the whole family is
an absolutely magical moment I can't help but once that little
into gets in we get to like the 59 second 1-minute mark it finally has crept on us
and then it just slams that bass and funky guitar line that feels retro
but new at the same time and all I can do is sit there and just kind of jam out
feet, don't fail me now is a common phrase but it's used in the
chorus here in a very interesting way and I love the musicality f this track one of
my favorites from Queens and they're more upbeat moments
in their discography and a really stands out and could be a definite fan favorite
especially when performed alive I would have to say that my least favorite
moment here is head like a haunted house aling with hideaway even though that trap
in particular the latter of those at least is still an excellent
tune and I appreciated a lot of things about it head like a haunted house just
feels a bit out of place it does feel very rock and roll ish and vintage
of like the 60s but kind of cheesethat came with some of that music players up here
aand in a very serious and topical record it just kind
of sticks out a bit and I know that some people absolutely love this one just
because of the stye and for Josh Homme ll and the Queens taking on
something new I just feel like this one is a bit misplaced and misguided here but
let me know you guys think this is all just my opinion, me personally I think
vilains
is going to have a very high replay factor Queens of the Stone Age surprised me yet
again striking hard ne of my absolute favorite bands and
I'm happy to give this record a strong four point five out of five one of my
definite favoriite albums of the year so far.