10 Underrated Albums By Legendary Rock Music Bands

The entire concept of Queens of the Stone Age always seemed to be somewhat of an evolving idea. The band may have all existed in the world of Josh Homme most of the time, but Lullabies to Paralyze was the first time where he felt lost, being without the core band for the first time since Rated R and still managing to make amazing tunes like Little Sister and In My Head. Josh could now write Queens songs in his sleep, so that meant it was time to get a little bit weird.

Although Josh has always come to describe the band’s sound as ‘robot rock,’ Era Vulgaris may be the closest that they’ve ever come to actually sounding like that, with the guitar stabs almost sounding like machinery against the rest of the song. This is far from an industrial record or anything though, taking the same formula that Queens were known for and making it even more dirty, whether that means some demented tunes like Turnin on the Screw or making what’s basically the rock equivalent of a horror movie on the song Sick Sick Sick.

Seeing how the band switches from aggressive to soft on a dime, it makes sense that Josh originally wanted Trent Reznor to produce this record, having that same kind of emotionally scarred feel that you would get with any of the mainline Nine Inch Nails projects. While Songs for the Deaf may have had more or a narrative behind it and Lullabies was more about the singles, Era Vulgaris tends to feel like much more of a party record. Granted, a party that’s going on at the end of the world, but a party nonetheless.