Queens Of The Stone Age — Era Vulgaris

I wouldn't say Lullabies To Paralyze was a bad record by any stretch of the imagination, but Queens Of The Stone Age's first record since Rated R without longtime bassist Nick Oliveri definitely lacked the bite of its monster predecessors. With Era Vulgaris, they haven't just got their mojo back, they've produced their most inventive and comprehensively excellent work to date. The songs are thickly layered but never cluttered. More importantly, where some of the tracks on Lullabies seemed to lack purpose or direction, Era Vulgaris is rife with both qualities. "Into The Hollow" and "3's & 7's," with its obvious Nirvana-copped guitar riff, start somewhere and end up somewhere else, something it seemed like QOTSA had forgotten how to do. More importantly, all the creative touring for Lullabies and a sense of starting from scratch have re-energized Josh Homme. He's never been this good lyrically or vocally, making this Era one you should immediately make yourself a part of.

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