Eagles Of Death Metal – Zipper Down

Fuzzed out sex on tape...

They're back, they're bonkers and they're ready to lay it down. Best buds Jesse 'The Devil' Hughes and Josh Homme return with 'Zipper Down', Eagles Of Death Metal's fourth slice of filthy fun.

Never a band with confidence issues, Hughes & Homme ensure their good time jams are not seen as a side project to QOTSA but rather an outlet for more deranged thoughts. This is clear from the off with 'Complexity', a slight reworking of Hughes' solo single a few years prior. Fast attack lyrics are laid over some '70s bass and light drumming before a cheeky guitar solo wraps the whole thing up in under two and half minutes. Funky, frenetic and fast, 'Zipper Down' is not for the pretentious listener.

Second number 'Silverlake' is a crunched-out ode to band life with hilarious cries of "Don't you know whoooo I am" and declarations of how cool your band is. Take that, celebrity culture. 'Got a Woman' sounds like an AC/DC number doubled in speed with added handclaps and backing vocals. The bendy guitar attack of early Queens leads 'I Love You All The Time', a stomping pop song complete with bizarre French. The following 'Oh Girl' continues course with the theme of lost love, Homme providing first class vocals in a similar manner he did with the Arctic Monkeys' acclaimed 'AM'.

The brilliantly titled 'Skin Tight Boogie' fits into the classic stoned-out desert rock mold with added synth washes for extra flavour. Then comes the curveball, a cover of Duran Duran's 1982 hit 'Save A Prayer'. Opening with Ennio Morricone wails before soon falling into the number's melancholic chorus, The Eagles knock it out of the park in their own mad way. It's the album's most serious moment and an oddly faithful attempt despite themselves.

Things end as they began with 'The Reverend', a sexed up good old-fashioned rock 'n' roller with no desire to be anything else. It's a testament to how refreshing this sounds that we must live in an age where lack of either concept or grandeur is seen as a sin to some. Here we have two best friends having fun and pointing their middles fingers up as they do so. May they never change.

7/10

Words: Sam Walker-Smart

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