Queens of the Stone Age

Though the new QOTSA is still a ways away from finding itself a home on record store shelves (Era Vulgaris is out on Interscope June 12), this non-album track has arisen on the official MySpace page for the album. Oddly enough it shares the same title as their fifth full-length, and after one listen it’s surprising to know this was left on the cutting room floor because this is primo stuff. At first it’s pretty standard QOTSA: a mid-tempo jam that seems harmless enough, bouncing the fuzz riffs off the tight rhythm. For one brief instance in the first minute some foreshadowing is dropped, but it isn’t until the two and a half minute mark that things get hairy. This is the point where former tour mate Trent Reznor drops in for a visit, adding some harmonies and giving the song the signal that it can now erupt and go apeshit. From that moment on, it’s a frenzied attack that does relent, but only to show these guys are all about maintaining control. If this is an outtake, I can’t wait to hear what the 11 tracks deemed worthy enough will sound like.
Queens of the Stone Age "Era Vulgaris”