News Update: Queens of the Stone Age rawk hard and their new album comes out later this month.

Just thought I should let you know. The release date is the twelfth and title of the album is "Era Vulgaris". Let's take a look at what Josh Homme has to say on the subject:

"It sounds like "the Vulgar Era", which I like, because that sounds like something that I would like to be part of...I mean I think we're in it, and I'm stoked."

Cool, Josh! Would you like to describe the album for our lovely Music News, Views and Blues Clues readers?

"Dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker","…it's like dirt, clearly seen."

Gee, that sounds delicious! Do you have a tracklist for us?

1. "Turning on the Screw" – 5:20
2. "Sick, Sick, Sick" – 3:34 (feat. Julian Casablancas)
3. "I'm Designer" – 4:04
4. "Into the Hollow" – 3:32
5. "Misfit Love" – 5:39
6. "Battery Acid" – 4:36
7. "Make It Wit Chu" – 4:50
8. "3's & 7's" – 3:34
9. "Suture Up Your Future" – 4:37
10. "River in the Road" – 3:19 (feat Mark Lanegan)
11. "Run Pig Run" – 4:48

Gee, wow! "Make It Wit Chu", huh? Gosh, I can never keep up with these kids and their vernacular and Jitterbugs these days...

Anyway, when it comes to melodic stoner sludge-rock to prepare for the upcoming apocolypse, there's really no one better than the Queens of the Stone Age. I first jumped on board with 2002's "Songs for the Deaf", a groovy rock record with a witty mock-radio station theme ("We spoil music for everyone!") Perhaps you remember singles "No One Knows" and "Go With the Flow", which managed to bring some rawk(!)(!)(!) `n swagger back to the usual modern rock garbage on K-rock playlists. The top track (and perhaps best example to date of the Queens of the Stone Age's "fuck shit up" vision is "Song for the Dead", a six-minute descent into stoner metal madness and hellish harmonies, rounded out by Dave Grohl's aggressive drumming.

Back in the holy spring of 2005, I was one of the few who believed that "Lullabies to Paralyze" undoubtedly improved on its predecessor. Everything was pushed to the limit: the spacey vibes, the hazy tempos, the gut-punching grooves. There's "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane", which is just as great as the title suggests and switches from a dangerous blues groove to punk-ish assault about a quarter of the way through.

Or that utterly dangerous groove "Tangled Up in Plaid" married to Homme's best Chris Cornell impression.

Or the filthy guitar riff that runs through "Burn the Witch", which plays like Black Sabbath at a clown convention.

Speaking of filthy, "You Got A Killer Scene There, Man..." is a hazy, slow-burner driven by dragging hand-claps and an equally sleazy vocal performance.

Not to ignore "Someone's in the Wolf", a seven-minute thrasher that only builds up in intensity to a furious frenzy.

Fuckin` A, I'm quite certain that "Lullabies to Paralyze" is one of the best rock records to kick my ass all decade and I've been resisting the leak of "Era Vulgaris"; I have no doubt the full product will swallow my brain whole as I expect.

First single (I think?) "3's & 7's" plays like a proper '60's throwback garage-rocker and some douchebag set it to a bunch of movie clips on Youtube: