We review “Perfecth”, the long-awaited work of QOTSA
Life, with its inevitable catastrophes, continues to be the great fuel of art. Josh Homme lived through a painful divorce with a long dispute over the custody of his children, and a cancer that could have taken him away. Not by chance, he and his companions embarked on the radical project of the catacombs with which they stripped themselves to an unprecedented level, delving into the essential wound of their songs.
Life – and the bitter awareness of mortality – has led to Queens Of The Stone Age to make a mature and complex album, in which the band leader and his companions in a thousand battles opt for a stark confessional tone, with a much more contained volume, although they do not dispense with moments of electricity, which, being rarer, hit doubly. Furthermore, for the first time, the pathological perfectionists, one of the most well-known rock bands in the world, have overlooked the flaws and errors that populate all the legendary albums that have inspired them. That ease is noticeable and appreciated, as well as a vulnerability in the vocal performances and stark lyrics that years ago would not have been allowed.
But they have also recovered the vibrant hit that Homme composed with Iggy Pop a decade ago, “Sunday”, with whom they have a great time and remind us that life is not just about suffering. The album has its main charm precisely in that imperfection claimed from the title and prolonged in videos full of bleeding black humor. This new work, the singer said, explores all the facets of love, from the most atrocious disappointment to the romantic illusion without which one cannot live. And a strong melancholy runs through the songs from the faint chords and strings of “It’s Only Love.” “Insignificant Other” takes up the immortal spirit of the late Bowie, and in “Where The Goth Girls At?” They show their teeth with their cutting guitars.
“Bun” It could be the darkest, most experimental and at the same time romantic thing they have ever done, and the lightness of it is surprising. “Easy Street”. “Phantom Limb” It is magnificent and “Run Away From The Mob” –what great advice for any time–leads to a euphoric electric ending that gives meaning to the journey. The production of Homme and his bassist and close collaborator Mike Shuman is tremendous in one of those albums that promises to continue growing.
In a recent interview, the composer and guitarist answered a journalist from the NME that he didn’t give a damn about the “resurrection of rock” and all its derivatives at this point. Some naive people have reproached Josh and company – if something like that can be done – for their drop in revs, as if a few things had not happened to them and they were the same as they were a quarter of a century ago. Without realizing, furthermore, that the genuine spirit of rock is to be contrary and poke the nose, even – or especially – of the fans who get stuck in a moment.
