Released: 2013

Genres: Alternative Rock, Art Rock, Stoner Rock, Hard Rock

The Musiquarium’s …Like Clockwork Review Score: 10 out of 10

After having briefly died during a routine surgery, resulting in having to be resuscitated and brought back to life, Josh Homme must have been having some insane feelings about life, death and artistry. The intense experience he had survived led to one of the band’s greatest projects yet, the curiously-titled, …Like Clockwork.

The heavy-riffing My God Is the Sun was the lead single and the band’s first new song since 2007. The six year long wait was finally over and Josh and the boys were back in top form. …Like Clockwork also features the biggest guest list of any QOTSA album yet, with returning musicians like Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana), Nick Oliveri (Kyuss, QOTSA), Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees, QOTSA), and Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), as well as appearances from newer collaborators, such as Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys, The Last Shadow Puppets), Elton John, Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters) and drummer Jon Theodore (The Mars Volta).

I remember buying this on CD the day it came out. I inserted the CD inside my car and heard Keep Your Eyes Peeled, a song that starts by feeling like you had just come back from the dead, just as Josh had. My attention was undivided for the next 46 minutes. I Sat By the Ocean was the second single and has some (unsurprisingly) excellent guitar work. Fairweather Friends has Elton John on backing vocals and piano.

If I Had a Tail features Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys on backing vocals, a favour that would be returned by having Josh Homme make an appearance on their upcoming album AM, released a few months after …Like Clockwork. The Vampyre of Time and Memory, I Appear Missing and the title track are Josh had his most meditative and emotional. Kalopsia is one of the band’s dreamiest compositions. Smooth Sailing is one of the sexiest songs in the band’s canon, alongside tracks like Make It Wit Chu.

…Like Clockwork is a masterful comeback from the dead for Josh Homme and the most complete, focused and concise QOTSA album in years.

For credit breakdowns and historic release details, view Queens of the Stone Age on Discogs.

Back to the 2013 Album Guide or the Queens of the Stone Age Reviews page.

Written by Brett Nippard