Them Crooked Vultures

The word “supergroup” gets thrown around a lot. Lately there haven’t been a lot of notable bands in this category. Rage Against the Machine minus the rage plus a whole lot of Chris Cornell, good for one album but I stopped listening to Audioslave after that. I didn’t even bother with Velvet Revolver, and if you need to know why then you’ll probably never understand. But when I heard who was in Them Crooked Vultures…

Dave Grohl.

“Okay…he’s been in other bands as a drummer before…”

Josh Homme.

“Really? I guess that makes sense, he’s worked with Grohl before. This could be good. Who’s on bass?”

John. Paul. Jones.

“….

…IWANTITIWANTITIWANTITIWANTIT!!!”

Okay, I’m a little biased. These are three members from three of my all-time favourite bands. Between Foo, Queens and Zeppelin there are numerous successful and critically-acclaimed albums. However, I tried to reserve judgement once I’d heard the actual material. To my relief, the album is really good, and totally worthy of a listen for anyone who likes any of the aforementioned bands. It’s a very warm and fuzzy rock album with something for anyone. If you can forget that it is being powered by three rock gods, it’s well above average compared to anyone on the rock scene at the moment.

The album, in all honesty, is not without it’s shortcomings. I had hoped that we would get a nice blend of the three musicians’ style and pedigree. Unfortunately, it feels more like a Josh Homme record featuring Grohn and Jones than something all three of them created. He simply overpowers it, which is a shame. There’s only a handful parts where I really felt the other members stood out and contributed their style rather than just following the lead. This could quite easily have been the next Queens of the Stone Age record and I doubt anyone would have noticed.

That being said, this album is a hard and heavy rocker that will please anyone with classic rock sensibilities. The best song on the album is by far “Scumbag Blues” with its organ solo and solid blues-rock feel. I don’t know if this album will ever be cherished higher than Songs for the Deaf, or The Colour and the Shape. And I doubt it will ever come close to being on the same level as any Zeppelin album…

…okay maybe Coda.

Rating: 5/5