This is Queens of the Stone Age's fourth full-length and second without founder Nick Oliveri. Perhaps the most ambitious and intricately made album thus far in the QOTSA catalog, ERA VULGARIS makes clear that this is Josh Homme's band through and through. The album still contains the band's trademark rock muscle and fierce riffage, as "Sick Sick Sick" and "Misfit Love" prove. But there's also a charming synthetic sexiness to tracks such as "Battery Acid" and "I'm A Designer" that Homme clearly revels in, and that one can't help thinking was slightly stifled by the more rockist Oliveri. And while there's still plenty of QOTSA's sun-baked acid vibe throughout, it comes via the white noise and ultra-violet burn of 21st-century Los Angeles. This is decadent cyber-punk choogle ready-made for a pre-Apocalypse party at the QOTSA manor. Mark Lanegan and Julian Casablancas guest on vocals.
01 Turnin' On The Screw 02 Sick Sick Sick 03 I'm Designer 04 Into The Hollow 05 Misfit Love 06 Battery Acid 07 Make It Wit Chu 08 3's & 7's 09 Suture Up Your Future 10 River In The Road 11 Run Pig Run 12 Fun Machine Took A S**! & Died