Eagles of Death Metal - Heart On

Rating

: * * * *

Verdict

:

Best rock'n'roll boogie woogie album yet from Palm Desert super group

The impossible has happened. Jesse "Boots Electric" Hughes and his famous music-making mate, Josh Homme, also known as the leader of the Queens of the Stone Age, have grown up on the Eagles of Death Metal's third album. But not too much, as songs like Anything ‘Cept the Truth ("I never smile when I tell a lie") and the cheeky Cheap Thrills proves.

And while Hughes sounds the most serious he's ever been on soul-searching ditty How Can A Man With So Many Friends Be So Alone, the main maturation here comes through musically. The pair still get down to some hippy hippy shake, boogie woogie guitar, and bang out songs rather than play them, giving EODM their unique sleazy charm. But, where once their sound was drafty and loose it is more solid making them a backyard porch band of stadium rock-sized proportions.

High Voltage wails, wah wahs and slopes along; Prissy Prancin' is the best example of how Hughes and Homme could just be the Outkast of rock'n'roll; Solo Flights is a dark Rolling Stones-meets-Queens of the Stone Age number; and I'm Your Torpedo sounds like Kyuss (Homme's band before Queens) on 45 rpm. So get those hands clapping, do some thigh slapping, and hum along.

- Scott Kara