Peace, Love and Homme

It comes almost inevitably following the success of any modern rock band; the side project. Ahh yes, the side project, the chance for already successful musicians to expand their musical horizons by showing the world that they can rock you in multiple ways. Often times, the response to these projects is met with a ‘don’t-quit-your-day-band’ sort of attitude. Though others, most notably Dave Grohl of Nirvana/Foo Fighters fame, have transgressed through different musical styles, achieving success in each ‘side project.’ But success stories such as Grohl’s don’t come around very often. Testing his luck next is Josh Homme, vocalist for Queens of the Stone Age, a band that saw tremendous success in the past few years. Homme’s band, The Eagles of Death Metal (arguably the coolest rock name ever created) release their debut Peace, Love and Death Metal. Don’t let the name fool you. Unless you’re a) my mother or b) riding the short bus to school, this album ain’t death metal. What does comprise Peace, Love and Death Metal however, are extremely infectious guitar grooves met with light-hearted yet catchy vocals. At first listen, you may be quick to brush it off as another 70’s-rock-ish trend band, but the album goes deeper than that, providing fifteen songs of edgy, hook-oriented rock that just may result in excessive head nodding and/or tapping of the feet. And even though it may not live up to the success of any Queens of the Stone Age album, Josh Homme is certainly easing his way through the first steps of Dave Grohl’s “How To Become A Musical Legend” handbook.