this is not pitchfork

This QOTSA album features Dave Grohl and Mark Lanegan. Musically, it’s the strongest QOTSA album.

You know, I try hard not to fan-girl gush when I review a QOTSA album, but it’s hard not to. Not when they produce such perfection, such musical bliss and flawless entertainment as this.

See, I did it again. Fair notice. My QOTSA reviews are over the top.

While all the other QOTSA albums can be played at whatever volume you like, in whatever setting you want, Songs for the Deaf was meant to be played at maximum volume, in your car. In fact, the running theme of the record – peppered with radio bits between songs – is a drive through the desert with the radio on. And you can just feel it as you listen to song after song, imagining that there are washed out cow skulls and menacing cactus out your window instead of steel and concrete. It’s hot as hell and even the wind that blows in through the open windows is like the devil’s breath on your neck so you drive faster and faster and play the music louder and louder as the desert zooms by you, at times threatening (Song for the Dead), at times exhilarating (Do it Again) and in between all that is an oasis of pure bliss (Go With the Flow). This album can turn any traffic-clogged, road rage type drive home into a hallucinogenic ride through some wasteland.

The pounding drums and melodic rhythms will work you into a frenzy and just as you’re about to convert that frenzy into road rage, remembering that you’re not actually driving through a desert, there’s a break between songs, an ironic little sound burst about how much the radio sucks and you catch your breath, laugh knowingly and wait for the next song to invade your senses.

Grohl’s relentless drumming, the constant change up of styles, the absolute heaviness coupled with amazing melodies; from the hoarse screams of You Think I Ain’t Worth a Dollar, to the sweet orchestration of the dark, disturbing Mosquito Song, Songs for the Deaf is a pure joy ride of perfection.

Favorite song: Go With the Flow (I want something good to die for to make it beautiful to live – one of my favorite lines ever), accompanied by the Best video ever made: Go With the Flow

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 7th, 2009 at 6:44 am and is filed under Queens of the Stone Age. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.