“EMOTION SICKNESS” - Review - IN TIMES NEW ROMAN… out June 16th!
Last time there was a new Queens of the Stone Age album, we were only six months removed from Barack Obama in the Oval Office. After a palpable feeling of despair crept into their previous masterpiece …Like Clockwork - an album carrying the scars of Homme’s near death experience on an operating table and subsequently grueling rehabilitation - 2017’s Villains felt like a heel turn towards embracing something darker. This band has never been without a healthy dose of cocksure swagger, but it was especially assuring to see Homme’s outfit confidently blazing forward into an uncertain era.
“Emotion Sickness” is the first new music we’ve heard from QOTSA since that point... and obviously a bit has happened in the interim. Especially more so for Josh, who in addition to the delightful contemporary events that have sent most of us to the therapist, also went through a turbulent divorce and custody battle with Brody Dalle. I know this isn’t the the first Homme release since - Desert Sessions 11/12 was released around the same time - but as those eclectic efforts rarely seem like Homme’s vehicle for the emotionally close material, it makes this song hit harder than a kicked camera to the face (and in case you were wondering - this is the first new QOTSA song since that happened).
So what do we get from this first glimpse back into the mind of one of our generation’s most talented and dare we wonder more tormented artists? A masterfully discordant riff with chilling lyrics that seem to warn the listener away before melting into an infectiously upbeat chorus that feels like it’s just imploring you to leave your worries behind. But then, flick of a switch - right back into the haunting riff and an uneasiness that feels like something kinda fucked up that was only temporarily relegated to bubbling beneath the surface. It’s a little eerie how intoxicating and familiar it feels - as if the band has plugged a guitar directly into the world’s collective mounting frustrations and anxieties as capitalism crumbles and the planet simmers. We’ll just have to wait for the remaining nine tracks on In Times New Roman… before we know for certain if they’re referencing a favorite font or putting together a soundtrack for the fall of our modern empire.
Phenomenal and not for the faint of heart indeed. In Times New Roman… will be released on Friday, June 16th.
Josh Homme - Guitar & Vocals
Troy Van Leeuwen - Guitar & Vocals
Michael Shuman - Bass & Vocals
Dean Fertita - Keyboards, Guitar, & Vocals
Jon Theodore - Drums
