Villains (Queens of the Stone Age album)

''Villains'' is the seventh studio album by American rock band Queens of the Stone Age, released on August 25, 2017 through Matador. The album was announced on June 14, with a teaser trailer taking the form of a comedy skit featuring the band performing a polygraph test with Liam Lynch. The first single, " The Way You Used to Do", was released the following day along with the announcement of a world tour. ''Villains'' is the first Queens of the Stone Age album to not feature any special guest musicians, the second to not feature Mark Lanegan, and the first to feature Jon Theodore as full time member of the band.

The album received widely positive reviews and performed well commercially, topping ''Billboard''s Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts. At the 2018 Grammy Awards ceremony, it was nominated for Best Rock Album, losing to The War on Drugs' ''A Deeper Understanding''.

Background and recording

Several of the songs from the album were previewed in some form prior to its release. The album's final track, "Villains of Circumstance", was first premiered by Josh Homme in 2014 at an acoustic concert for James Lavelle's Meltdown Festival, while "The Evil Has Landed" was performed by the band during their first gig of 2017 on June 22 at The Rapids Theatre in Niagara Falls, New York. "The Evil Has Landed" was released as a single on August 10, 2017. In addition to this, several snippets of songs have been featured in teaser trailers released online in promotion of the album, including a short clip of the album's opening track, "Feet Don't Fail Me", as well as an a cappella from the intro to the same song.

The album has been described as "a little looser and more uptempo than their last release '' ...Like Clockwork'' and "more carefree". Homme cites his interest in dancing, working with Mark Ronson, and Ronson's collaboration with Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk" for the direction of the album. Kory Grow of ''Rolling Stone'' notes, "While the guitars still have the limber crunch of Queens albums past, they're playing around easy-breezy disco beats and chilly synths on songs like "Feet Don't Fail Me" and "Un-Reborn Again."" The song "Un-Reborn Again" was seen as a nod to T. Rex by critics, with the lyrics "Scaredy nose Jack/ Scaredy nose Jack/ Knowing nothing about nothing" echoing T. Rex's "Telegram Sam" with the lines "Golden Nose Slim/ Golden Nose Slim/ I knows where you’ve been", a T. Rex influence that Homme mentioned during the promotion of the album.

Artwork

The cover art for ''Villains'' was designed by graphic artist Boneface, who designed the artwork for Queens of the Stone Age's previous album, ''...Like Clockwork.'' It was the first time that the band had returned to an artist to request artwork on a subsequent album. In an interview with the Juxtapoz magazine, Boneface talked about returning to create a cover for the album and his working relationship with Josh Homme. In the article he stated that, "Returning was honestly a pretty daunting task. People seemed to like all the artwork I did for the last album, so I felt I had something to live up to. Also, the fact that QOTSA tend to use a different artist for each album cover made it kind of special that they decided to use me again. I think Josh likened our relationship to Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman in the initial rallying call. So after I’d decided to plunge back into the QOTSA jacuzzi, I started work the way I usually do, just trying to create something cool. I did a bunch of preliminary drawings before I’d heard any new songs or we’d even talk about the album, and one of those sketches actually ended up being the basis for the album cover." Each band member was given their own artwork, with Homme's on the front cover, and the rest of the band members on the back. An alternate vinyl cover that was released exclusively through independent record stores had a light blue tint over the image, gave Josh Homme a bloody nose, and the devil behind Homme giving two middle fingers.

Reception

Commercial performance

In the ''Billboard'' charting week of September 3, 2017, ''Villains'' was the No. 3 album on the ''Billboard'' 200 upon its first week of release, selling 73,000 equivalent units, and 69,000 in traditional album sales. It was also the best selling album of the week, starting at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart.

Critical reception

''Villains'' received widespread acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 81 based on 30 reviews, indicating 'universal acclaim'.

Giving the album four out of five, AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine claimed that "At this stage, Queens of the Stone Age don't have many new tricks in their bag, but their consummate skill -- accentuated by the fact that this is the first QOTSA album that features just the band alone, not even augmented by Mark Lanegan -- means they know when to ratchet up the tempo, when to slide into a mechanical grind, and when to sharpen hooks so they puncture cleanly. All that makes Villains a dark joy, a record that offers visceral pleasure in its winking menace." In his review for ''Rolling Stone'', Will Hermes wrote, "''Queens of the Stone Age'' always sounded like the best glam-band name ever, and while Josh Homme's free-ranging heavy rock hypnotists were never quite that, they come as close as ever on ''Villains''."

In a more reserved review for ''Pitchfork'', contributor Zoe Camp concluded that, "''Villains'' isn’t always so smooth and several sections fall flat, like the staccato-spiked funk that surfaces midway through “The Evil Has Landed” or the melodically static refrains on “Fortress.” Nevertheless, the stalled moments don't detract from the fun of the ride. Queens’ final destination is what matters—and a beeline into the unknown sure beats another go at the merry-go-round. Villains reaffirms what makes this band so special to begin with: their willingness to blow up the status quo as established by their riff-rock brethren, and even themselves."

Amongst the most critical reviews was an article by Will Butler for '' Under the Radar''. In the review, Butler claimed "It'll be of concern to Queens purists that ''Villains'' pulls from sounds that expired a decade ago and beyond. Dwelling on better times of a bygone era is a fundamental pillar of escapism, but it's disconcerting when one of the most uncompromising, forward-thinking bands in the rock pantheon leans so heavily on what worked in the past that they forget that the onus is on them to innovate."

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Queens of the Stone Age''Villains'' (liner notes). Queens of the Stone Age. Matador Records. 2017.
* Josh Homme – lead vocals, guitars
* Troy Van Leeuwen – guitars, keys, backing vocals
* Dean Fertita – keys, guitar, backing vocals
* Michael Shuman – bass guitar, vocals
* Jon Theodore – drums

Additional personnel
* Nikka Costa – background vocals
* Matt Sweeney – background vocals
* Fred Martin – background vocals
* Tai Phillips – background vocals
* Faith Matovia – background vocals
* The Section Quartet – strings on tracks 1, 3, 6
* James King – saxophone on tracks 2, 6

Production and design
* Mark Ronson – production
* Mark Rankin – co-production, engineering
* Wesley Seidman – engineering assistant
* Justin Smith – engineering assistant
* Caesar Edmunds – mix engineering
* Alan Moulder – mixing
* Gavin Lurssen

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