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" Occasionally, Rap Genius takes to The Culture Blog to educate us about a new development in music. Desert rock kings Queens of the Stone Age have returned with their sixth LP and first since 2007&amp;#039;s Era Vulgaris. Like Clockwork... (featuring appearances from Trent Reznor, Sir Elton John, Alex Turner, and James Lavelle) is a ten-track dissertation on the human condition, spewing forth the dark themes and electrifying guitar riffs that have made the band famous. This isn&amp;#039;t a marginalized work by a band who&amp;#039;s already hit their peak. On the contrary, Queens of the Stone Age are still developing new ideas that are relatable to commoners like ourselves. It&amp;#039;s refreshing when a band&amp;#039;s sixth LP can sound as fluid and inspired as their first. 1. &amp;quot;Keep Your Eyes Peeled&amp;quot; Singer Josh Homme introduces us to a new sick and twisted world, alluding to a hopeless, apocalyptic existence where &amp;quot;the view from hell is blue sky/so ominously blue.&amp;quot;      2. &amp;quot;I Sat by the Ocean&amp;quot; We&amp;#039;re graced with a signature QOTSA guitar riff from the minute the track opens as a tale of love lost. 3. &amp;quot;The Vampyre of Time and Memory&amp;quot; Homme is still posing the same questions he asked on their first album... sixteen years later. 4. &amp;quot;If I Had a Tail&amp;quot; There&amp;#039;s only one thing keeping Homme and Alex Turner (of Arctic Monkeys fame) from pummeling the earth&amp;#039;s most despicable creatures like famished hyenas: a tail. Disgust and disdain for the materialistic populous reigns supreme here. 5. &amp;quot;My God Is the Sun&amp;quot; A heavy bass line sets the stage for the band&amp;#039;s homage to the desert from which they came. Dave Grohl&amp;#039;s towering drums bang as they bow to the Sun God. 6. &amp;quot;Kalopsia&amp;quot; Trent Reznor teams with Queens. Don&amp;#039;t let the melancholy opening fool you \u2014 the band positively shreds into the chorus.      7. &amp;quot;Fairweather Friends&amp;quot; Sir Elton John&amp;#039;s piano cements its sound within the song as Homme chastises fickle foes and sends &amp;#039;em to hell with the album&amp;#039;s best guitar solo thus far. 8. &amp;quot;Smooth Sailing&amp;quot; The band flexes their bluesy stylings, while letting Homme sing about how good it&amp;#039;s going to feel to &amp;quot;burn bridges&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;blow my load over the status quo.&amp;quot; Wow. Uh, okay. 9. &amp;quot;I Appear Missing&amp;quot; The most enchanting hook on the album and Grohl flexes his muscles on the drums again in unison with complex guitar arrangements.      10. &amp;quot;...Like Clockwork&amp;quot;Unkle&amp;#039;s James Lavelle gets production credits on the album&amp;#039;s final cut. Homme&amp;#039;s voice sounds higher than normal and we begin to realize that the album&amp;#039;s title is a metaphor \u2014 for the predictability of human motivations and the cycle of love. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/music/a22888/rap-genius-queens-of-the-stone-age/>