Sounds from the Stone Age : Reissue

You know the feeling right? The feeling when you have forgotten just how amazing, how tasty, how aurally delectable something is, only for it to come back to you and blow your mind twice as much... right? Yeah, you know the feeling all too well. Well this is what happened when a reissued and remastered debut from Queens Of The Stone Age made love with my stereo last week, the soundtrack to a thousand miles of open highway melting my speakers with gluttonous bass riffs, piercing six string noodling and an unrelenting kick drum rhythm. As the perfect bridging album between the collapse of Kyuss and the birth of QOTSA, it’s a natural progression in sound that tips its hat to its chequered past while making the promising future the new venture was bringing on at the time hard to ignore. And as far as partnerships of the riff go and the output that together they provided, Josh Homme and Nick Oliveri are etched in rock history. Unrelenting throughout the album, the opening treble of Regular John, Avon and If Only are three of the best songs the pair ever played together on and now, in all their studio shined glory, they sound punchier and more flooring than ever. Although the bonus tracks on this release are nothing special, especially for the fan whose collection takes in far too many singles, 7’ and b-sides, the hit or miss nature of the additional tunes are irrelevant. What is relevant is the chemical induced sleaze of Mexicola, the hypnotic pummelling’s of How To Handle A Rope (A Lesson In The Lariat) or the pogoing insanity of Hispanic Impressions. And now, listening with a fresh set of ears, 13 years after this debut first hit shelves, the increased relevance of the music is more poignant than ever before. -Benny Doyle