{"id":6741,"date":"2026-11-03T17:52:52","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T22:52:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6741"},"modified":"2026-11-03T18:27:23","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T23:27:23","slug":"qotsa-turning-down-the-volume-and-ruminating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/?p=6741","title":{"rendered":"QOTSA: Turning Down The Volume And Ruminating"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2024, Queens of the Stone Age played a completely acoustic set in the Catacombs of Paris, among millions of skeletal remains. It was the realization of one of bandleader Josh Homme\u2019s teenage dreams, and the start of what he calls the group\u2019s third act.<\/p>\n

That experience was a critical influence on Perfecth, QOTSA\u2019s ninth studio album, which finds the (usually) hard rock band turning down the volume and ruminating on all of love\u2019s dimensions. \u201cI\u2019ve aways tried to make good art, but at times it\u2019s been a war,\u201d Homme tells Apple Music. \u201cBut it isn\u2019t right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Stream Now! Image Courtesy Of Apple.<\/strong><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, categorizing Perfecth as QOTSA\u2019s \u201cmellow album\u201d is misleading. It may not be as heavy as previous records, but it can still be intense. \u201cMono\u201d is sparse and punch-drunk, swerving in and out of focus as Homme tries to make sense of his haunted feelings, while \u201cPhantom Limb\u201d finds beauty in feeling adrift.<\/p>\n

QOTSA also unearths multiple new shades on the album: \u201cSunday\u201d has elements of David Bowie\u2019s space-alien soul phase, and \u201cEasy Street\u201d is deceptively breezy. \u201cIn this new record, we\u2019re kind of two bands now,\u201d says Homme. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to stop whatever that Catacombs version was, we\u2019re just more now. It makes me feel like we\u2019re even closer to doing whatever we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond this sonic expansion, there are other personal matters that shaped Perfecth\u2019s tone. Homme was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in 2022 that was thankfully caught early, and he has dealt with other health issues in recent years. His liberated attitude towards mortality seems to be on his mind. As he sings on \u201cWhere the Goth Girls At?\u201d: \u201cNever felt so alive as the day I almost died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s why I\u2019ve always liked being knocked down,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause I fucking love getting up so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every product\/service is selected by editors. Products\/Services you buy through these links may earn “Streamapse Online Magazine” a commission or revenue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the summer of 2024, Queens of the Stone Age played a completely acoustic set in the Catacombs of Paris, among millions of skeletal remains. It was the realization of one of bandleader Josh Homme\u2019s teenage dreams, and the start of what he calls the group\u2019s third act. That experience was a critical influence on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6744,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6741\/revisions\/6744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/streamapse.com\/Magazine\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}