Each album from Queens of the Stone Age can be described in one word. Rated R: Psychedelic, Songs for the Deaf: Chaotic, Lullabies to Paralyze: Eerie, and Era Vulgaris? Weird. Era Vulgaris is a weird album front to back in the best possible way.

 Released in ’07 as a follow-up to the band’s fourth album, Lullabies to Paralyze, Era Vulgaris saw Queens of the Stone Age taking a more experimental approach to their music. This experimental sound was a welcome change in direction as in my opinion, Lullabies biggest fault was that it felt too safe, especially when compared to Rated R and Songs for the Deaf. This exact point is driven home in the opening track “Turnin On The Screw” with the lines “Scared to say what is your passion. So, slag it all, bitter’s in fashion. Fear of failure’s all you’ve started, the jury’s in, verdict: retarded”. Also, the distorted keyboards heard in the intro as well as layered throughout the song underneath the rough sounding guitars make for an opening song that is trippy, addicting, and sounds machine-Esque.

The second track, “Sick, Sick, Sick”, is a hard-hitting desert rock hit that makes you want to get in your car and drive. This track is layered with what sounds like heavily distorted vocals combined with more distorted synths, which creates the image of driving through the heat waves on a long desert freeway. Continuing through the album, the chaotic sounds are briefly put to rest going into fourth track, “Into the Hollow”. While this track is a good song on paper, it slows the momentum of the album in a measurable way. The first few tracks leave you feeling amped up and excited whereas “Into the Hollow” has you feeling like you have a lot of pent-up energy that you cannot release. Again, it is a good song, but the mellow nature of “Into the Hollow” does not fit well into the overall sound of Era Vulgaris and feels more appropriate for Rated R or Lullabies.

“Misfit Love” brings the electrified energy back into the album by opening up with a minute and a half garage jam intro. Seriously, the intro sounds like a chaotic garage jam session between buddies. The guitar work throughout the intro of “Misfit Love” sound sloppy, dirty, and careless in the best way possible. Homme’s vocals are dynamic and are changed multiple times throughout the verse that it sounds as if there are multiple characters within the track. “Misfit Love” is nothing short of intoxicating.

The album’s closer, “Run, Pig, Run”, is an eerie and almost anxiety-inducing song that perfectly closes up the album with lyrics such as “Run, pig, run. Here I come, there is no safe place to hide”. While not a perfect album, Era Vulgaris is a high energy album full of that keeps listeners hooked.