Oh yeah, you all knew it was coming. After all this waiting, all the previews, sneak-peaks, ads, teasers, finally it’s out there. If you don’t have it already, you can listen to the whoooole album here.
After listening, hit the streets and buy it. You won’t be disappointed.
Yeah, you can blame me for being biased about Era Vulgaris. But I’ll try hard to make an objective review, both positive and negative sides will be represented. Finding the negatives will be rather difficult. Hell, I’ve been listening to Era Vulgaris two weeks non-stop. Let’s go.
The album kicks off with the amazing drumming of Turnin’ on the Screw. I hate people who keep ranting how much they miss Dave Grohl. Yeah, he indeed contributed much to Deaf’s success, he’s a great drummer, but seriously, I prefer Joey Castillo’s style. His approach is more minimalistic and simple, but you can really feel the strength of his accented, economic beats on Era Vulgaris. A man of few words, huh? Turnin’ on the Screw might sound a bit boring but after a few listens it will grow on you. Repetitive robotic QOTSA riffs!!
Talking about robotic riffs, first single and cannibalistic video spawning Sick Sick Sick comes next. As an acquaintance of mine puts it, this song sounds like a perverted, twisted disco. This is what Josh Homme meant when he said Era Vulgaris will be a dance record. It is indeed dancey. These groovy robotic riffs and steady percussions make you wanna dance and drink and party and scream ‘sick! sick! sick!’ at the top of your head.
A personal favourite follows: I’m Designer. To quote the song itself: ‘just like diamonds… in shit’. When it comes to the lyrics, they are quite unorthodox in structure, makin’ it hard to sing along instantly. I’m Designer explores the depth of wealth and fame, which is, honestly, a boring subject (for me, it’s one of the no-nos of rock and roll music…), but with the lines
You’ve made me an offer that I can refuse
(‘course either way I get screwed)
counter proposal:
I go home and jerk off,
you gotta love it. I’m Designer‘s guitars remind me of Captain Beefheart, jangling inconsistently, producing sweet sonic chaos…
A sweet slower song, Into the Hollow is to come. Very mellowish vocals and guitar-work. Not bad, not bad at all, but it lacks the overall drive of the album. So it’s more like a short intermission, because it’s followed by…
Misfit Love! Yeah! It took me some time to get into this song but now I’m in love with it. There’s a slight industrial rock influence to the record, you can feel that on these buzzing synths. By the way, it’s good that there are more synths and keyboards on this album then on previous ones. A nice touch to the sound. And the songs are full of changes!
And I just love the vocodered background vocals chanting ‘we don’t know, we don’t know’ throughout the second half of the track. Very complex song.
An interesting song, Battery Acid is up next. Garage and punk roots, anyone? Josh sings in an unusual for him way. ROBOTS ROBOTS BRAINWASHED BABIES!! Good song, but might get boring after the 100th listen.
Ahh, the obligatory Desert Sessions song, I Wanna Make It Witchu. A bit of a disappointment, honestly. I prefer the other versions – this is not mellow enough. Not bad, but the rythm guitar is too klang-ish, if you know what I mean. Intermission, to get you ready for……..
3′s & 7′s!! Forget that the base riff resembles Smells Like Teen Spirit… Who cares?? This is a true QOTSA song. Raw guitars, screaming guitars, sliding guitars, tough static drumming, a surprisingly pop chorus = awesome song. I guess this might be the second single (or not). Funny, but this song seems to be longer than it is. Maybe all the changes create that effect?
3′s & 7′s might be sorta cheerful, but the next bunch of songs demonstrate the dark side of Era Vulgaris. Suture Up Your Future is depressing, but fuckin dancey at the same time. The bass! Bamm-bamm-bamm-bamm… I’m sitting in my chair, but my body is jerking and twisting to the rythm… Dark little song.
River in the Road. Circus-style drumming (I’m sure it ain’t an official deifinition), police sirens looped through the song, and MARK LANEGAN on background vocals – only background, but you can indeed feel his haunting presence in this piece. Paranoid song, monsters, darkness and heavy riffs. Mmmmmmmm…
Last song of the album (if you don’t count the bonus tracks) is Run Pig Run. It reminds me of the Fun Machine, only darker. And a great chorus, bit like Sick Sick Sick, only this one’s RUUUUUN PIIIG RUUUN!! This song is the pair of River in the Road, they explore the hunter-prey stuff (this one being from the hunter’s pointof view, the other – from the prey’s). Woohooohooo! Aaaaah! Woohooohooo! And beautiful guitars. A great closing.
Yeah… That’s Era Vulgaris in a nutshell.
So… Judgement time. Era Vulgaris is a perfect album. It’s amazing that QOTSA can demonstrate new music on each album. A diverse and challenging piece. Can’t wait to hear these songs live.
~ Overall Score: 9.2/10
