Record Review - 1 September 16 2000

Rising from the dust of “stoner-rock” group Kyuss, like a speed-addled sidewinder chasing a desert dawn, Queens of the Stone Age strike hot and loose before heading full-throttle to catch that dream on Rated R.

It’s bumpy terrain for QOTSA fans expecting nothing but the eponymous debut album’s low-end riffs. Rated R is an album with high-end aspirations. Josh Homme, the virtuoso behind QOTSA, along with former Kyuss member Nick Oliveri (formerly of the Dwarves), keyboardist Dave Catching and a large revolving cast (including Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan), seems to have downed a tab of Blue Cheer and started recording heat hallucinations. Rated R is an album of LSD, R&B, Darvocet Delta blues and heavily coated pop.

“Feel God Hit of the Summer,” with its chorus of “Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana, Ecstasy and alcohol/C-c-c-c-c-cocaine!” leads the headrush into the Midwestern Meat-Puppets-on-Methadone “The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret.” Vibraphones ring for whomever will pick up and “Leg of Lamb” follows with the bounce of Elastica’s finest. Strangled tones under the Montana sky guide “Auto Pilot” and “Better Living Through Chemistry” shows Homme’s better writing comes through the Screaming Trees, as the Pacific Northwest influence seeps into the vocals while the classic Kyuss sound shakes your branches.

The rest of Rated R smokes so hard the cloud never has a chance to clear, but it also doesn’t have a chance to settle like so much stale stoner rock. Like Nevermind, QOTSA’s latest takes an underground phenomenon into the big leagues without having to pay a big price, and it’s worth every penny. — Tony Ware

Queens of the Stone Age play the Cotton Club, Wed., Sept. 20.