On “Villains,” Josh Homme’s desert-metal music collective goes groovy with assistance from pop and electronic producer Mark Ronson. Queens fans don’t have much to fear from Ronson’s influence: QOTSA always had an industrial brand of funk to their popular tunes. Ronson brought it to the forefront of most of the songs on “Villains” and threw in some funky horns at tactical points on the album without compromising the band’s outlaw-rock integrity.
Homme and co. kick off this 80s-steeped dance-rock album with an aptly-titled number, “Feet Don’t Fail Me.” Returning fans will recognize the intro’s chanting and ambient guitar as callbacks to QOTSA’s 2013 album “…Like Clockwork,” but the synthesizer line accompanying the chants and chugs are new. Pay attention to that synth line, shimmering above the intro like a ghost of prog-rock past. It’s a motif that’ll get twisted every which way as the album progresses. The melodic punch and grooviness that kick after the intro of “Feet Don’t Fail Me” won’t stop for another three songs. Homme immediately establishes the dance-groove focus in his lyrics: “I was born in the desert, May 17 in ‘73/When the needle hit the groove, I commence to movin’/I was chasing what’s calling me.”
“The Way You Used to Do” follows that grand entrance to “Villains” in spectacular fashion. On this first single from “Villains,” the guitars are at their crunchiest, the rhythm is at its punchiest and Homme’s lyrics tell a tale of a self-styled outlaw couple (“Let nobody dare confine us/I’ll bury anyone who does”). While the sludgy guitars associated with desert rock are nowhere to be found, many of the other components are there, plus a groove you can absolutely dance to. In fact, the music video for this number consists entirely of Homme showing off his dancing chops and generally having lots of fun playing the role of Satan. The man can rock a suit, too.
“Domesticated Animals” starts off with that same danceable crunch but eventually does what QOTSA did so well on “…Like Clockwork:” it starts with the balanced, danceable groove suspended beneath a sparse solo vocal line, then builds up to a frenetic and blurry climax as it’s completely melted out of shape by that Californian desert sun. Or lots of hard drugs. It’s definitely distorted by something as QOTSA delves back into their desert-rock roots for a brief, beautiful climax that drives fast and loud until something has to give and they return to that dependable chorus to get their bearings. The climax is followed by a small orchestral group playing a haunting melody that could almost be lifted out of the soundtrack of one of the “Witcher” games.
Following that is “Fortress,” a song that serves as a much- needed comedown from “Domesticated Animals” while also bringing that 80s synthesizer back into the mix for more melodic twisting. This song was written for Homme’s 11-year-old daughter, and when you listen to it in that context, it has its own sort of intensity (“Every fortress falls/it is not the end/it ain’t if you fall/but how you rise that says/who you really are”). While it might be the weakest song on the album to this listener, it has enough punch and groove to keep me listening, and the final 20 seconds or so are a real treat.
“Fortress” ias followed by the shortest but densest song on “Villains:” “Head Like a Haunted House,” an unashamed punk-rock interlude with all the drugs references, anger and clever wordplay you’d expect from the band that produced “Rated R” and “Era Vulgaris.” This is a return to QOTSA’s sex, drugs and rock n’ roll roots.
The synthesizer returns yet again as a central part of “Un-Reborn Again,” which deals with the dark side of that “sex, drugs and rock n’ roll” society. Homme croons his disdain for the pressure to remain youthful in America (“Buried so close to the fountain of youth you can almost reach”). Maybe it’s the combination of biting social commentary and the synthesizer in this number, but there’s a distinct Rush feel to it until Mark Ronson throws a saxophone solo into the final verse. It shouldn’t fit. It really should not, but it somehow does, and it pushes the song to a soulful conclusion.
“Hideaway” has Homme as close as he comes to straight-up crooning like Mel Torme. This could have been a soft-rock number were it not for a very active, rhythmic bass line and a biting rhythm guitar. Homme’s falsetto is what really gives the song its character.
Finally, we’ve reached the album’s second single and funky highlight: “The Evil Has Landed.” Borrowing from every element explored on this album thus far and combining them into one all-out anthem-rock jam, this is the song I felt I was owed when Homme said this album’s focus would be dance. There’s no melting the sounds under a scorching desert sun here. Queens of the Stone Age stay sonically tight and play every note with the utmost care and concentration on groove instead of letting loose. This song should be on every road-trip playlist for all time (“Going on a living spree/You know you wanna come with me”). “Villains” could end here, on an intensely positive note, and it would be very good.
But the album hasn’t ended yet. There’s one more song. “Villains of Circumstance.” Homme wrote this song as a message to both of his children when he’s passed from this mortal coil, so it’s going to be intense and personal. The song starts with a digital, almost dystopian soundscape that establishes a theme of trying to remain composed in the face of chaos. The raw emotional intensity in this song reminds Queens fans of “The Vampyre of Time and Memory.” The lyrics and chorus could be from an 80s power ballad: “Close your eyes and dream me home/Forever mine, I’ll be forever yours.” I’m reminded of “Come Sail Away” by Styx, but this is much more somber and does have some dark humor (“What’s done is done… until you do it again”). The song ends in a rhythmic cyclone, a fuzzy guitar solo climax, then a sudden, somber ending.
And that’s it. “Villains” is over. Themes ranged from drug-propelled forays into the mystical side of the California desert to Homme’s own epitaph from himself to his children, and all kinds of subjects both heavy and light in between. QOTSA’s metal following may be turned off by the groove, but they may find comfort in the fact that many funk and funk-rock listeners will give in to the growl and learn an appreciation for harder stuff from “Villains.”
I’m giving “Villains” 4 stars out of 5. It doesn’t quite live up to the artistic intensity and dark humor of “…Like Clockwork,” but it definitely rocks and grooves. Josh Homme retains his songwriting edge and has even sharpened it in some respects.
DJ Bassline
