“NEW VARIATIONS OF A CLASSIC TWO-GUITAR ATTACK"

Queens Of The Stone Age: In Times New Roman... track by track

- Jenna Scaramanga

In Times New Roman... is the final instalment of the trilogy started by 2013's... Like Clockwork and 2017's Villains. Those albums saw Queens Of The Stone Age achieving their biggest ever success, with the former giving them their first US number one album and the latter achieving the same in the UK. While Villains was helmed by superproducer Mark Ronson, the band handled those duties themselves for Times..., giving us rawer and more aggressive Queens than we've heard in some time. There's never been just one QOTSA guitar sound, the band instead playing with various shades of their signature mid-boosted fuzz, and fans will find new and nastier variations here.

1 OBSCENERY

The power of the fuzz tones is matched only by the funky grind of this opening riff. It'll take you a moment to realise where beat one is, and then you'll be grooving. An occasional flanger makes that fuzz even nastier, and in the pre-chorus it swirls menacingly against Josh Homme's falsetto vocal. The band unexpectedly gives way to an orchestral string break for a stunning fake-out before the chorus.

2 PAPER MACHETE 

Built around an urgent three-chord punk sequence, this song has a pummelling energy. The guitar solo is drenched in an octave fuzz, possibly Homme's favourite Fulltone Ultimate Octave. The solo itself is a work of brilliance, the octave effect becoming more prominent at certain points for a Whammy-like effect, and the sliding sequence of descending intervals is especially smart. Small lead fills and embellishments enhance the song all the way through.