Three years may not seem like a long time in the career of a band, but for Queens of the Stone Age it may as well be a lifetime. Their ninth studio album, Perfecth, lands on October 30 via Matador Records, and it finds frontman Josh Homme sounding transformed, refreshed and genuinely restless in all the best ways.
Cracks Filled With Gold
The album takes its name from Homme's own philosophy. Nothing in this world is perfect, but everything seems to be perfecth, he has said, a sentiment inspired by kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by letting the cracks show. It is a fitting metaphor for a record that draws from years of personal turbulence, including health struggles, substance abuse and a prolonged custody battle, and emerges not just intact but quietly luminous.
Produced by Homme alongside bassist Michael Shuman, Perfecth was recorded across sessions at Sound City in Los Angeles and Marigny Studios in New Orleans. The material spans several years of the band's recent life, and you can hear that accumulation of experience in the arrangements. This is not a band operating on autopilot. The current lineup of Homme, guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen, bassist Shuman, multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita and drummer Jon Theodore sounds equally inspired throughout.
Beyond The Fuzzy Wall
What immediately stands out is how far Perfecth travels beyond the signature stoner-rock sound Queens of the Stone Age built their name on. Opener It's Only Love blends acoustic stomper energy with a lush orchestral flourish, creating a film-noir mood that feels like an extended introduction to something bigger. Insignificant Other plays it cool with a bluesy strut and a Bowie-esque edge, Homme's intimate falsetto flourishes providing the finishing touch on a track that sounds loose, alive and deliberately unpolished.
The single Where the Goth Girls At? is a tongue-in-cheek jab at suburban malaise and one of the album's more straightforward power-chord rockers. Homme sings about bad tattoos and sterile eyes getting blue applied persuasions, painting a vivid picture of mall-bound ennui that earned a live debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on October 21, with Homme channelling David Bowie through his stage attire.
Guests And Departures
The record features several notable collaborations. Sunday, a breezy guitar-driven groove, was co-written with Iggy Pop in New Orleans and carries traces of both artists without sounding like an obvious imitation. Easy Street, an acoustic track featuring country singer Nikki Lane, includes some of Homme's most direct and self-aware lyrics: Drinking won't help, but it sure blocks out the help. Lane's gravelly vocal adds another texture to one of the sparsest arrangements on the album.
By contrast, Mono dives deeper into the experimental and strange. Its choppy mixing adds unpredictability, while the vocal harmonies rank among the darkest and most desperate on the album. From the Cliff strips things back further, an acoustic arrangement leaving plenty of room around Homme's voice, making it one of the record's most intimate moments. It is a love song that feels like a personal awakening into Homme's psyche.
Closer Run Away from the Mob, with Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl on drums, pulls several sides of the record together, moving from a jazz-influenced opening into a harder-rock finish. It is a fitting summary of an album that refuses to sit still.
The Perfecth World Tour
The band has already announced a sprawling global trek in support of the record. The Perfecth World Tour kicked off with an October 24 show in Reykjavik, Iceland, the band's first live appearance in the country in over two decades, where they debuted two new tracks live. From there, the itinerary runs through Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand through December, with dates at Lollapalooza festivals in South America in March 2027.
A US arena leg follows in May 2027, with support from alt-rock legends Pixies and experimental hip-hop act Wheelchair Sports Camp. Highlights include a May 12 stop at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and a May 24 closer at Boston's TD Garden. General on-sale begins Thursday, October 29 via Ticketmaster, one day before the album drops.
At nine tracks and 36 minutes, Perfecth comes in on the shorter side, but there is little wasted space. It is short, strange and unusually intimate for a band that once made their name on fuzzy walls of guitar. Homme has called this the start of a new era for Queens of the Stone Age, viewing their catalogue in cycles of three. If that holds, Perfecth is the opening statement of chapter four, and it is a quietly confident one.