10 Most Divisive Hard Rock Albums
4. Era Vulgaris - Queens of the Stone Age
As Queens of the Stone Age began their life outside of Songs for the Deaf, many were wondering if Josh Homme's brainchild even had any life left. Although Homme was always the lynchpin of the group, continuing on without the help of Nick Oliveri or Dave Grohl felt like it was going to be a step down regardless. While Lullabies to Paralyze was a good proof of concept, people tended to be a lot colder towards Era Vulgaris.
Originally slated to have Trent Reznor as a producer, a lot of fans look back on this record as a patchwork job, thrown together with all of the worthwhile ideas that were blaring from Homme's amplifier. Even with the 'also-ran' reputation, this is still one of QOTSA's more notable releases.Given the amount of guests present and the variety of soundscapes, this seems to be a good warm up for what would be coming up later on Like Clockwork, with Julian Casablancas fitting in perfectly on Sick Sick Sick.
This is also one of the more adventurous QOTSA albums out in the wild today, with songs like Turning On the Screw and Make It Wit Chu feeling like they fit in their own world regardless of genre. There might be a lot of confusion surrounding Era Vulgaris, but this is still probably the closest thing to robot rock that Homme ever got.