Johnny: The delicate, introspective beauty of 1998’s Yield was traded for a driving return to motivated purpose and statement on Binaural, whether through sardonic apologies to imperialistic invaders, tales of impending heartbreak and lost loved ones or any of the other narrative themes explored on this complex, confident album. Coupled with former bassist Nick Oliveri’s final shreiking spaz-freak appearance on record with Queens, Songs For The Deaf is that rare moment when the stars align and everything fits perfectly into place, creating a new standard. Mark Lanegan, lone-wolf man of many projects, contributes his whiskey-soaked, gravel-rubbed throat to the proceedings, a haunting and hypnotically smooth low-end weaving seamlessly with Josh Homme’s familiar tenor. He’s the determined rhythmic core, matching both raw power and the rooster strut so integral to the Sounds of Homme. The result was something we’d been waiting for, whether we knew it or not that first sign of a next evolutionary step in Rock music, like the Appetites and Neverminds that came before it.ĭave Grohl made his first high-profile return to the drums here since the shotgun demise of Nirvana, providing the core piston charge in the engine that roars to life in the record’s first moments and sets the relentless pace of the entire album. It’s equal parts danger, mystery, fun and a mindblowing collection of talent providing a massive dose of steroids to the Queens sound. This goliathan rhythmic melting-pot is the Rock equivalent of a trip out to the desert under a full moon with a lot of firepower, high-powered narcotics, great friends and a muscle car with a big-ass engine. Johnny: It’s an extremely rare occurrence that one album will completely vaporize your concept of cool. We slaved over this bitch for over a month and a half, arguing the conflicting merits and power points of more than a hundred albums before boiling the list down to 50. So what if the new decade’s already begun? Taking ten whole years into account, we’re giving ourselves a pass on these extra five days. But ultimately, arbitrary Darwinism aside, the deciding factor was how well these albums will hold up a decade from now. Antiquiet was only alive for the final third of the decade, which means that we finally have an excuse to gush over the albums that defined the past ten years for us and, ultimately, inspired us to put this site together in the first place.Ĭultural and musical distinction certainly play a deciding role in ranking, as well as the respect to album format and the places these collections actually take us as listeners.
0 kommentar(er)
