It’s Just Like Diamonds, In ………
1
By @m@k
I remember the moment I fell in love with QOTSA, and it wasn’t when No One Knows catapulted them into the stratosphere of universal acclaim. In fact I wasn’t particularly fond of that song when it first dropped and was on radio repeat, I did however feel that this was a band I needed to do a deep dive on, as Josh’s lyrics, voice, as well as guitar playing, especially his guitar playing, were undeniably incendiary. So I bought a CD of Songs For The Deaf and it was the opening track, You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire that left me in complete awe.
I could go on and on about how much I LOVE their self titled album, Rated R, Songs For The Deaf, Lullabies to Paralyze, and Era Vulgaris but I’m not going to, there’s nothing I can say about those albums that you haven’t already heard or feel yourself, and the last thing you need is someone opining on tried and true brilliance, but In Times New Roman is new, and as the masses have come out to celebrate, praise and grovel at its release, I am well within my right to give it an objective thrashing.
QOTSA were one of my favorite bands because they refused to placate the mob, you don’t like our desert rock sound, **** you, we play to loud, eat a bag of *****, too many vocalists on an album and not enough continuity, to bad, we’re not making music for you, we’re making music that we want to listen to…… My words not theirs but you get my meaning and Josh is on record saying that he makes the type of music that he wants to listen to, so none of what I said is a stretch.
I’m all about bands evolving and shaking things up, but when you abandon your roots you alienate your OG fan base and make a mockery of everything you stood for when you first hit the scene.
There is no desert groove in, In Times New Roman, there is no **** you attitude, there is no edge, it’s garbled and unfocused glam rock pretending to be edgy. Gone are the days of that subtle yet effortlessly cool, cohesive talent that cemented their first 5 albums into instant, timeless listening pleasures. Unfortunately, QOTSA appear to be more concerned with cheeky song names, hollow yet cleverly written lyrics, and a show-boating style of playing which only serves to convolute their song writing as a whole.
ITNR as well as it’s predecessor, Villains, are shamelessly overproduced as well as being sonically flaccid. We miss you Nick!
In conclusion, It’s just like diamonds in………. mediocrity, and as Sick Boy would say, “No, it’s not bad but it’s not great either is it, and in your heart you kind of know that although it sounds alright, it’s actually just ****.”
Here’s hoping QOTSA find their fangs and regain their once, hard as nails edge.
