Era Vulgaris - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com
Latin for "common era," Era Vulgaris holds a pair of common threads with the four Queens of the Stone Age records that preceded it. One, it crosses colossal guitar chords with the most volatile of hard rock melodies. And second, it's as LOUD as loud gets, thanks to Josh Homme, the impatient instigator behind the ever-evolving cast of personalities that make up the band. Detonation comes with track one, as the jagged riffs of "Turning on the Screw" lead the listener into "Sick, Sick, Sick," where Julian Casablancas spews his vocals beneath a wall of multi-guitar catcalls. Although the head Stroke will likely garner the most attention, perpetual Queener Mark Lanegan's velvety pipes earmark two of Era's most booming selections: the funky "Make It Wit Chu" (complete with Temptations-like backing vocals) and the heart-racing three minutes of "River in the Road." Add the garage rock of Homme's "3's & 7's" and "Suture Up Your Future," easy pickings for most likely crossover hit, and Era Vulgaris-- hypnotically and explosively common--holds its own with any in the QoTSA discography. --Scott Holter

Album Description
International pressing of QOTSA's 2007 album features one bonus track: 'The Fun Machine Took A Shit And Died'. Era Vulgaris translates to the Common Era, but there is nothing common about the latest album from Queens of the Stone Age. Joshua Homme's band of gypsies return with their fifth full-length release from the seminal desert rockers and they are out for blood with guitars slung low. Era Vulgaris delivers riffs heavier than a slab of Stonehenge and more infectious than The Black Plague, vocals as smooth as molten lava and infused with sex, danger, and the sound of a band possessed to deliver rock music to a new epoch. Produced with the help of longtime collaborator, and Masters of Reality genius, Chris Goss, QOTSA give birth to eleven tracks that will enter your bloodstream and transform your Dr. Jekyll into a Mr. or Ms. Hyde. QOTSA and R got you hooked, Songs for the Deaf made you scream for more, Lullabies to Paralyze blew your mind and June 2007 marks the dawn of a new, loud era: Era Vulgaris.

Album Details
Japan Edition Includes the Bonus Tracks "Running Joke", "Era Vulgaris", and "Fun Machine Took a Shit and Died".

Customer Reviews: Read 116 more reviews...

3 out of 5 stars

Too Soon June 12, 2007
43 out of 62 found this review helpful

Already 13 reviews up for this album on the day of its release with everyone proclaiming it to be a dud. Listen up, folks. Any album worth its merit will take you at least a couple of months if not more to fully appreciate. Instant gratification when it comes to a new release is indicative of a short replay value.

Yes, I bought it today and found it a bit odd and obviously different than their other albums and you could easily say that they jumped the shark with Lullabies and losing Nick. But the fact that it didn't immediately strike me as their best album gives me the glimmer that this one, like the last one, will get better over time. The only criticism I have is the fact that Josh recycled Make It Wit Chu from Desert Sessions, even though it's already appeared on their live CD.

Long story short, if you're a Queens fan, you're gonna buy it anyway. In the meantime, just ignore the peanut gallery and keep listening to the CD.

4 out of 5 stars

I can't lose this feeling inside of my head! June 12, 2007
27 out of 33 found this review helpful

Queens of the Stone Age smash and roar through some of the best, most influential hard rock out there, even with a lineup that never seems to be the same twice.

And while their latest, "Era Vulgaris," starts off with a whimper, it quickly works itself up into a bang that can be heard right through the end. Their music here is grimy, rough and raw, but it tries out some new sounds and quirkier edges, without losing the grimy, brooding feeling.

It opens rather limply -- "Turning on the Screw," a jumbled tangle of clashing cymbals, drums and almost mute basslines, which just sort of meanders around in circles. Josh Homme sings mournfully that "You got a question?/Please don't ask it/It puts the lotion in the basket."

Fortunately things perk up in the next song -- dark, rapid riffs and twisting melodies are all over "Sick Sick Sick," a creepily rapid song that gets more tantalizing as it continues. And it leads in to more good music of various types -- the sinuous desert-rock, "Misfit Love's" weirdly plaintive lament, creepy industral grinds, tightly-woven rock'n'roll with a catchy edge, fuzzy blasts of muscular metal, and finally the shifting, layered finale "Run Pig Run."

"Era Vulgaris" is something of a contradiction -- it's a very polished album, but it also has grime, sweat and rough edges. That is to say, the band is expert at spinning some really tight songs with few weaknesses, but it's got the raw power you usually associate with young bands. Bless their dark little hearts.

Homme's rapid, nimble guitar goes overtime with fast, sharp riffs. And that guitar is woven with some dark murky bass, rapid drums, darkly curling keyboard and occasionally some samples (a rattlesnake?), all played with rapid-fire energy. The music twists itself either into a hard-rock rope, or a thunderstorm of brooding, shifting musical layers. And they're not afraid to throw in something quirky and weird, like "Misfit Love."

Homme's jagged lyrics all center on his life near Hollywood -- selling out ("How many times must I sell myself before my pieces are gone?"), sex, taking risks and leaving the past behind all come into play. Homme sings them in a rough, enthusiastic voice, although he also gets to roar and groan some spoken lines -- and even gets accompanied by the smooth-voiced Mark Lanegan and mournful Julian Casablancas.

Hollywood never seemed so alarming and enticing as in "Era Vulgaris," which starts rather weakly, but soon blossoms into a dark, dirty little gem. Vibrant.

5 out of 5 stars

An excellent rock album June 12, 2007
14 out of 18 found this review helpful

I'm not going to do a play by play of the album because reviews in general are just opinions so that would be a waste of your time. I will say that this album is very cocky, indulgent, dark, and delicious.

You can go to their website and hear the whole album. If you like it, buy it. Simple as that.

2 out of 5 stars

Queens Of The Stone Age? More like The Josh Homme Band June 12, 2007
12 out of 22 found this review helpful

Let me say first of all I love QOTSA or rather loved. Anyway simple thing is Queens ain't nothing with out Nick Oliveri.

1 out of 5 stars

WTF happened to QOTSA? Atrocious Decubitus. June 12, 2007
11 out of 46 found this review helpful

I can't believe I used to think this band was one of the only bright spots on the musical horizon back in the day. Boy, was I wrong. After the amazingly recorded and produced (not to mention catchy as hell) "Songs For The Deaf" the band (was there ever even a "band"???) pretty much fell off the map with their last POS "Dull...uh...BYE!" album. Where was the great old 70's recording style? Where was the catchiness? Where was the feeling? Where was the groove? Where was the integrity? It was gone.

I swore after that last craptacular waste of plastic I wouldn't purchase another QOTSA album. And, I'm glad I didn't actually pay for this new Eagles of Death Metal (but not nearly as good...this stuff appears to actually be SERIOUS) wanna-be album.

This guy has managed to go from a respected and what seemed to be on the surface a talented unique musician to a completely annoying untalented unoriginal waste of flesh. There are only so many fake voices you can do, and the three musical ideas this guy writes on his own can only be stretched so far (a bazillion albums too many)...there are only so many terrible musicians you can hook up with whom can't hold a candle to anyone on "Songs For The Deaf." A band is not one member on his own...chemistry and interactability are what GRABS an audience and KEEPS them. Contrary to what this "band's" (LMAO) egomaniac leader may believe, the actual BAND matters in music. It's not just about HIM. But, don't try to tell him that. He'll just continue to spew out bland, contrite, dull, boring, predictable, rote, by-the-book excrement all the while thinking he's cutting edge and original while concurrently adding another worthless, has-been, cheezy, and 5-year-too-late gimmick (i.e., electronic ProTools effects). Clueless.

Again, this guy will forever be the "Craig Kilborn" of rock. Both now equally discredited, disregarded, and disrespected.

Owned.

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