Eagles of Death Metal is bad in a good way
Eagles of Death Metal return with their second album, Death By Sexy. It's an immediate, rocking and hilarious set of songs.
Published April 28, 2006
Eagles of Death Metal, one of the many side projects of Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, return with its second set of absurd, lighthearted and ultimately triumphant horn-dog rock.
The "band" consists of Jesse "The Devil" Hughes, who plays guitar and sings, and Homme, who mans the drums while taking a timeout from his QOTSA frontman duties.
The two friends use Eagles of Death Metal as an outlet to create an unpretentious and carefree album, breathing some fresh air into rock's droopy airwaves. The sound echoes that of QOTSA's, but with the terror turned way down and with a fuzzier, lighter tone.
The drums are muted and the guitars are extra hazy, making it sound as if you are listening to vinyl instead of a CD.
The effect benefits the Eagles' sound and it helps move the album even farther from the modern era and back to a more jovial time in rock's history.
Album opener and first single "I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)" gets things started quickly.
Exploding out of the box with no intro, swirling guitars and goofy background vocals, it is an outrageously catchy first track.
The song sets the tone for the rest of the album and hammers home the fact that "these boys are bad news," and they are here to raise hell.
"I Got A Feelin (Just Nineteen)" and "Cherry Cola" keep the QOTSA-lite aesthetic going, and produce two more slabs of hooky, horny cornball rock.
These brisk opening cuts lead into the fourth track and album highlight, "I Like To Move In The Night."
Although still goofy, the song is delivered in a more straightforward fashion than the previous tracks. Backed by a massive hook, it rocks with a Stones-y conviction.
Of the subsequent songs, none rock as hard as "I Like To Move In The Night," or are as insidiously catchy as "I Want You So Hard," but all are enjoyable. "Keep Your Head Up," is another Stones-inspired garage rocker. "Solid Gold," the best of the bizarre songs, and "Chase the Devil" is what it would sound like if Elvis fronted a bar band while high on crack. Even the ludicrous "The Ballad of Queen Bee and Baby Duck," is passable as long as you don't put it on repeat.
"Eagles Goth," is murkier than the rest of the bunch, and "Bag 'O Miracles," is a surprisingly traditional and rootsy sounding album closer, but this is about as far as the duo strays from their formula of organized mayhem.
Death By Sexy boasts few classics, but no throwaways.
It doesn't rock as hard as Eagles' off the wall and super-loud live show, but is still a great album to pump at parties, or while driving 90 mph on the interstate.
Eagles of Death Metal just want to "sentence you to death by sexy," not sadness like the mope rockers the duo has decided to destroy.