“You broke my heart ‘cause I couldn’t dance... and now I’m back to let you know I can really shake ’em down,” sang The Contours on their 1962 smash hit, ‘Do You Love Me’. It’s also the message that Josh Homme seems to be conveying in pre-release promotional interviews for Villains. Not in the heartbreak so much, but certainly in the danceability of the new record.
If your heart, like mine, curdles at the prospect of generic loops and waka-ta-waka guitars, rest assured the Queens still exhibit their unique blend of tenderness and brutality; the guitars strafe and burn like Armageddon. Yes, Mark Ronson is on production duties and he’s brought a few synths along, but if I was forced to describe the overall feel – which I am – I’d call it glam. The ghosts of Bowie and Bolan are all over it, sprinkling some incorporeal glitter on proceedings.
God is a riff, making this album polytheistic, as every song features gargantuan piledriving guitars and earworms the size of those in Dune. First track ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me Now’ starts disconcertingly enough with reverbed scrapes and clangs, before exploding into a colossal, gut-churning headbanger. And we’re on our way!
‘The Way You Used To Do’ is 21st century boogie with more than a hint of ‘20th Century Boy’. Groovy! ‘Head Like A Haunted House’, meanwhile, out-Hives The Hives, with its full throttle, Dickies-on-speed attack. Homme’s stint with Them Crooked Vultures might have left some traces of Zep in his consciousness, as ‘The Evil Has Landed’ has a distinct, Page-esque strut to it. Nonetheless, it’s still fiercely hard-edged.
Finally, closing track ‘Villains Of Circumstance’ – a monumental pop song – soars on the chorus, before building to an orgasmic squall of blistering guitars. Wham bam, thank you ma’am!