The ninth album from California rockers Queens of the Stone Age is the band’s softest effort to date. The stoner rock veterans have always melded psychedelic riffs, pop melodies, and danceable grooves with brutally heavy rhythms. On Perfecth, however, that heaviness is missing. There are no crunching guitars, and even the tunings are different. Though they’ve played in a variety of tunings, Queens of the Stone Age are best known for playing tuned down two full steps to the low, growling C-Standard. The songs on Perfecth are played in standard tuning and other brighter alternate tunings, giving the album a lighter tone.
In place of the heavy, chugging guitars, the band places more of an emphasis on melody. Josh Homme’s vocals take center stage as his softer guitar interplays with the guitars and keyboards of multi-instrumentalists Troy Van Leeuwen and Dean Fertita.
The album opener, “It’s Only Love,” is a brooding mid-tempo track with a thick, murky sound. In the song, Homme lays out the overarching theme for the album of love as a double-edged sword. “It’s only love, this twist of hope I’m hanging on,” Homme croons, then contrasts it with the next line. “It’s only love, this greasy rope I’m hangin’ on.” It’s the sort of clever wordplay that Homme’s lyrics are known for.
“Insignificant Other” is a soulful, mid-tempo track built on shimmering guitars and a bouncing groove. It’s the QOTSA version of yacht rock, with Homme crooning about a lover who’s become distant and made him feel insignificant. “A quick rescue, then you left to repeat your mistakes,” Homme sings over the catchy groove.
Perfecth strips most of the aggression and intensity from the Queens of the Stone Age sound, but there is still a spirit of experimentalism, from the intertwining melodies and jazzy feel of “Mono” to the punk-inspired “Sunday,” a song Homme originally recorded with Iggy Pop for his 2016 album Post Pop Depression.
Country singer Nikki Lane provides guest vocals on the acoustic strummer “Easy Street,” one of several acoustic tracks on the album. The song again focuses on an unhealthy relationship, this one of the love-hate variety. “I’m not like that anymore, been dead a long time; I don’t believe in luck, so you can have mine,” Homme and Lane sing in a folksy harmony.
There are a few moments of aggression on Perfecth. The menacing thump and squealing guitars of “Where the Goth Girls At” is a welcome change of pace. The album-closing “Runaway from the Mob” starts as another mid-tempo acoustic ballad, but in the final minute, the loud, distorted guitars crash in for a frenzied outro jam.
The melodies on Perfecth are good. Homme has always had a knack for composing melodic hooks and memorable vocals, but without the heavy riffs and bursts of intensity, the melodies are all that’s left. The result is a Queens of the Stone Age album that is solid but not at the same level as the rest of the catalog.