New Music: Them Crooked Vultures
To say this is a long-anticipated project would be a bit of a misstatement. From announcing it’s existence back in 2005, not much has been said about it until July and August of this year when secret club shows began to pop up and finally to an album release coming on a wave of quickly building buzz. Now for the latter half of 2009 it is hard to find a place where someone was not talking about Them Crooked Vultures… the newest bunch of guys to get the “super group” labeling and all the ridiculously high expectations that come with it.
A combination of Josh Homme [Queens Of The Stone Age], Dave Grohl [Foo Fighters/Nirvana] and John Paul Jones of the mighty Led Zeppelin… the individual styles of each are quickly identifiable and take them down an often bluesy rock-n-roll album. Josh Homme’s distinctive guitar and vocals dominate almost all else, while Jones’ signature bass lines keep him in check. Overall, the album finds itself sticking to the kind of music Homme and Grohl fancied as teenagers and a style they have explored both a part and together in the past [see Queens Of The Stone Age’s Songs For The Deaf] as Led Zeppelin disciples. The end result of teacher meets mentors is one that takes a bit to get into, and often finds some of the best tracks on the album popping up on the latter half of the track list.
No obvious radio single rears its head, and unless you fooled yourself into setting an incredibly high set of expectations, this self-titled debut album is filled with all the bad ass rock and roll and bad boy swagger to keep you satisfied for at least the rest of the year.