Queens Of The Stone Age: Like Clockwork (2LP/red/re-issue) LP

For their first album in six years, Queens Of The Stone Age called back classic members Dave Grohl and Joey Castillo on drums, and Nick Oliveri and Mark Lanegan on vocals. In addition, some big names came in to perform: Elton John, Trent Reznor, Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), Jake Shears (Scissor Sisters), James Lavelle (U.N.K.L.E.) and more. The 2013 release, which Homme described as "an audio documentary of a manic year," contains some of the QOTSA mastermind's most intense, personal and beautiful songwriting to date. While the thunder of Queens past is still evident (especially in lead single "My God Is The Sun") there are a number of gorgeous ballads - meditations on time passing, the struggle to create art, and the nearness of mortality. The music lives up to the album's lyrical and conceptual ambitions, with some of Homme's finest guitar work to date, at times recalling past greats such as Brian May or George Harrison, at other times uniquely his own. The rhythm section starts and stops on a dime, and in some of the more complex songs, the ensembles playing is virtuosic - but never sterile.