Queens of the Stone Age review, In Times New Roman: Josh Homme vacillates between vulnerable and vindictive

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy “Clutching, hanging by a nail in this life/ When there’s nothing I can do… I smile…” croons Josh Homme on In Times New Roman. Nine-minute closer “Straight Jacket Fitting” isn’t quite the epic journey it wants to be, as Homme taps into comparisons between the fall of the Roman empire and the decline of modern America. The best track is “Emotion Sickness”, which opens with the sound of a studio door swinging closed and Homme singing casually before the band whump into action. There’s a cool, lopsided riff bouncing off the bass’s steel-sprung suspension, then the weirdly sweet, late-Seventies AM radio chorus of “Baby don’t care for me/ Had to let her go”.