0873 - Queens of the Stoneage

 Queens of the Stoneage "Queens of the Stoneage" (1998)

Following the breakup of desert-rock/stoner-rock masters Kyuss, that band's guitarist Josh Homme got together with Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernández to form QOTSA (major collaborator and former Kyuss member Nick Oliveri would join the group following the album's completion).

Oddly I seem to remember not really enjoying this album when I listened to it a few years back.  Not sure why, as it seems to be the classic QOTSA sound: bashy-yet-tight drumming a la Mitch Mitchell or John Bonham, and Homme's muddy fuzzed out guitar and light, clear voice.  It also features the studio experimentation that Homme continued on the group's second album "Rated R" with instruments being hard-panned to either side of the stereo field in unconventional, yet cool ways.

"Walkin' on the Sidewalks" has a guttural, gutter twang, contrasted by Homme's melodic vocals.  "Regular John" has a pounding, unrelenting pulse to it.  The instrumental track "Hispanic Impressions" bears a suspicious resemblance to Jimi Hendrix's very phonetically-similarly titled "Manic Depression".

In some ways with Homme writing all of the songs and playing most of the instruments, this is the heart of QOTSA.  Though I prefer "Rated R" and "Songs for the Deaf" with their contributions from Oliveri, the Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan and (on the latter album) Dave Grohl on drums, the band has always been Homme's baby.