Like Clockwork

Queens of the Stone Age, one of my favorite bands of the modern era, are releasing a new album on Tuesday.  This will be the first album they've released in 6 years.  When it was announced late last year that Dave Grohl would be drumming on the album, I became very excited for its release.

For those who don't know, Dave Grohl is arguably the most prolific rock n' roll personality of the last 20 years.  He was the drummer for Nirvana when they hit it big, playing on hits like "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Heart-Shaped Box."  After Kurt Cobain died, he went on to form the Foo Fighters, playing every instrument on their debut album and continuing to play both guitar and drums on the follow-up.  Foo Fighters have gone on to become massively popular, though he still takes time to do various side projects.  He released a metal album titled Probot featuring a different metal vocalist on each track while Grohl again plays every instrument.  He played drums on Queens of the Stone Age's best album, Songs for the Deaf, which is why the idea of him coming back excited me.  He also played in a supergroup known as Them Crooked Vultures with Josh Homme, the vocalist/lead guitarist of Queens of the Stone Age and John Paul Jones, the multi-instrumentalist of the little known band Led Zeppelin.  At the 12-12-12 concert for Hurricane Sandy relief, he reunited with the remaining members of Nirvana to play with Paul freaking McCartney.  So it's safe to say he's had a pretty successful career.

Dave Grohl

After the jump, some samples of Grohl's work and the main point of this post - my debate over whether I should buy the new QotSA album or not.

This is a Call - Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl plays:  EVERYTHING

Shake Your Blood - Probot

Dave Grohl plays:  Drums, All Guitar

No One Knows - Queens of the Stone Age

Dave Grohl plays:  Drums

Mind Eraser, No Chaser - Them Crooked Vultures

Dave Grohl plays:  Drums, Background Vocals

So yeah, I think the guy's pretty amazing and multi-talented if you couldn't notice.  Anyways, that made me pretty excited for the new Queens of the Stone Age album, titled ...Like Clockwork.  However, now that it's almost here, I don't feel nearly as enthusiastic about it.  Why?  I guess it was the first single that was released, "My God is the Sun."  It just didn't get me like the stuff on Song for the Deaf.  I guess it's unfair to compare the two, but the fact that Grohl was playing on the album somehow made me believe that every song was going to sound similar to "No One Knows," which is posted above, and a few other hits from the album.  I suppose it's unfair to the band tho think that changing the drummer is going to alter the sound that much, but it's what I built up in my head.  The song has grown on me over time, but I think I'm going to have to listen to some of the previews on iTunes before making a final decision.  At this point at least it doesn't seem like I'll be buying it on release day Tuesday.

The first single that I mentioned is included below, if I haven't already blown out your eardrums in the less than likely chance that you actually listened to any of the songs above.  Other than that, I'm done for now.

Until next time.

"My God is the Sun," on which Dave Grohl is playing drums if you didn't comprehend anything you just read, or if you somehow got this far without reading anything else in this post.