CD of The Week

It seems notable that Perfecth is the first album by Queens of the Stone Age to feature a photo of the band on the cover. At the center of the image is frontman (and something close to auteur) Josh Homme, slumping, seemingly exhausted. The cover is an indication of how tough the last few years have been for Homme (a cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgical removal, a custody dispute after an extremely ugly divorce), and the nine tracks contained on the album bear those physical and emotional wounds. Perfecth subverts most of the expectations one might have from QOTSA, dialing back the menace and sleaze and replacing it with vulnerability and occasional tenderness. Already proving to be a divisive album among their fanbase, Perfecth is the largest shakeup to QOTSA's sound to date but has plenty of quality songs and meaningful personal insights from Homme.

Those insights occur out of the gate on the hushed, acoustic opener "It's Only Love," where Homme croons that love is "the twist of rope I'm hangin' on." Second track, "Insignificant Other," rides a sultry groove to growing intensity, sharing some sonic DNA with highlights in QOTSA's catalogue such as "The Vampyre of Time and Memory." Still, the arrangement is warmer than might be anticipated, which continues through the album where pianos are almost as present as electric guitars. In interviews, Homme has discussed how recording in New Orleans influenced the sound of the album, and the often-haunting atmosphere of the Crescent City is audible on bluesy tracks like "Mono" and "Phantom Limb." Meanwhile, "Easy Street" features lovely harmony vocals with Americana artist Nikki Lane and Homme is convincing as the tortured romantic of the pair, singing, "I don't believe in luck so you can have mine."

Perfecth is too much of a deliberate outlier to feel like a minor release, but there is something that feels slightly incomplete in its content. It is at least ten minutes shorter than any of QOTSA's albums released since the band's commercial breakthrough with 2002's Songs for the Deaf. Also, the only loud tune on the album is "Sunday," which is an Iggy Pop co-write that already appeared in a superior form on the 2016 collaborative effort Post Pop Depression. In some ways, Perfecth comes across more as a therapeutic statement from Homme reflecting on a hard passage in his life than a full band effort. It would be interesting to compare the reception if the album was released under Homme's own name as a solo record.

For most of their career, QOTSA's unique blend of hard stoner/dirtbag rock, unconventionally catchy melodies, and adventurous spirit has made them truly distinctive but also resulted in albums that have followed a similar sonic template. Perfecth veers very far away from this framework and can be an odd listen. However, upon repeated exploration, a personal and quite intense (if still leaning mellow) album with plenty of lyrical and musical depth emerges.