Queens of the Stone Age Visit The Dark Side On Vengeful ‘In Times New Roman…’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

The Queens of the Stone Age return with their eighth studio album, In Times New Roman…, as the band (Josh Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita, Michael Shuman, and Jon Theodore) rev up their choppers, plug in their fuzz pedals and scruff it up out in the deserts of California.  

Their first new album since 2017’s Villains arrives after songwriter and main QotSA, Homme has gone through a series of emotional events including a very public divorce, rehab, a child custody battle, the pandemic, and recently revealed a cancer diagnosis that he underwent surgery for. All of this leads to darker lyrical modes, but his chameleon-like shifting of rock styles still dips into various subgenres throughout.

The album opens with the tone-shifting, unsettling, pessimistic “Obscenery” which sees modern love as unsentimental and everything doomed around grunge-laden guitars, random classical violin breaks and crashing drums; interesting ideas which never fully lock-in. Better is the driving, straight-ahead rock of “Paper Machete” complete with an excellent distorted solo, the angular “Emotion Sickness” that deploys a catchy FM radio-friendly hook, and “Negative Space” which juxtaposes sexy grooving bass during the verses and big clanging noise breaks for the choruses.   

The majority of In Times New Roman… however is centered around dark, dance-laden rock numbers. The druggy and repetitive “Time & Place” would be perfect for late-night nodding off dancefloors while the squealing and chugging “Made to Parade” is more upbeat but runs on a bit too long. “What The Peephole Say” offers up that it feels like the world is gonna end in a month, so it also joins the leather-clad dance party before closer “Straight Jacket Fitting” bangs and marches for seven minutes, angrily lashing out while ‘freeing the seeds of your demons’, before oddly tacking on a warbling, string-based finale out of nowhere, wrapping things up on a bizarre note.  

Two outlier tracks stretch Homme’s style in different ways. “Sicily” is over the top, theatrical gothic, with synths, violins, and a hint of Broadway while “Carnavoyeur” ups the electro keys, strings, and dance beats as Homme delivers his best David Bowie impersonation (from the singing to the songwriting) combining glam with his dance-ready desert rock. 

Tough times have hardened Homme lyrically, but the music still flows with a distorted rock groove throughout In Times New Roman… as Queens of the Stone Age soldier on through dark days.