Soul Drift

‘Era Vulgaris’, meaning the ‘Common Era’ in Latin, was the title Josh Homme chose for Queens of the Stone Age’s fifth studio album. He claimed it was because it sounded like ‘the vulgar era’ – something he felt he would like to be part of. The album may seem like it could be another band preaching to society, but it is in fact celebrating the vulgar side of life. As Homme himself explains in an interview with Heather Adler (Dose):

“Call me crazy, but I sort of like seedy, vulgar stuff. I don’t like bonehead belching – I’m not talking about that. I’m just talking about the stuff your ma’ warned you about. I’ve always had that fascination: one foot in the gutter, one foot in the clouds.”

The album is much slower than previous albums (although I do not own the self-titled album or ‘Lullabies to Paralyze’, so I cannot speak for those). I think it sounds more like a return to ‘Rated R’ (particularly ‘Into The Hollow’) than ‘Songs for the Deaf’. Homme made it clear from the beginning that it would not be a ‘Songs for the Deaf II’.

On first listen, nothing particularly stood out to me (‘Make It Wit Chu’ being the exception, since I knew it already & was pleasantly surprised it was on the album!). I was very worried that the album wasn’t going to be upto much & mostly filler tracks. On second listen, however, I realised that they are all good tracks & it’s very much an album you should appreciate as a whole, rather than picking out the stand-out tracks. The album flows really well & is very good for chilling out to. It kinda reminds me of Kyuss (excuse the reference, I couldn’t help it on this occasion) in the sense that it’s the sort of album I see myself listening to on a hot/sunny day, cruising around in a car. It’s just got that slow & moody feel to it. Strangely, I found out that the album was allegedly inspired by Homme’s daily drive through Hollywood. However, he was drawing his inspiration from the seedy environment he was driving through.

The best tracks on the album would have to be: ‘3’s & 7’s’ (probably the best); ‘Make It Wit Chu’ (good reworking of a Desert Sessions track); the opener, ‘Turning on the Screw’; & ‘Sick, Sick, Sick’ (it grows on you & the chorus gets stuck in your head!).

Although not the best QotSA album I’ve heard, I do like it a lot. It is a very ‘Josh Homme’ style album (I can usually tell straight away when he’s had some part in another project). I’m sure many people would get annoyed with me for what I’m about to say next, but the band is pretty much the Josh Homme band now, & it was even more evident from their live show at Oxegen last month. Anyway, ‘Era Vulgaris’ is worth a listen… the only major problem I have with it is the artwork – it’s hideous!

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