Queens Of The Stone AgeSix years is a long wait, but finally the new Queens Of The Stone Age record has arrived and despite the departure of long-time drummer Joey Castillo, things look somewhat promising on paper: Dave Grohl, Mark Lanegan and Nick Oliveri have returned; there are contributions from Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Trent Reznor (NIN) and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, who has since been confirmed as the new touring drummer. Reading beyond this list though, things start to sound a little superfluous: Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys) gets a call up, as does Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) and even Elton John, and you start to get the feeling that the roster is less about making music and more about how many A-List stars lead-man Josh Homme can rub in our faces.
That all said, the album begins well with Keep Your Eyes Peeled and I Sat By The Ocean but starts to peter out by track four. It picks up again on My God Is The Sun but there just aren't enough good numbers to justify saying the record is one of the band's better. This isn't helped either by Homme choosing to take lead vocals on all the tracks, despite the throng of mentioned individuals (whose talents are near impossible to discern on any of the songs) apart from Lanegan, who manages to sing few lines at the very end of Fairweather Friends.
...Like Clockwork falls short of recreating that indefinite, intelligent atmosphere of its predecessors, which is a bummer given what Homme and his rotating roster of talent have achieved on Queens albums past. The LP may divide opinion, but it's still worth a listen if only to try and pick out where Elton John may have perhaps contributed a fart sound.
