EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

Reviewed:
- Peace Love Death Metal (2004)
- Death by Sexy (2006)
- Heart On (2008)
- Zipper Down (2015)


PEACE LOVE DEATH METAL          2004          (AntAcidAudio)
- Standouts: 'I Only Want You', 'Speaking in Tongues', 'So Easy', 'Flames Go Higher', 'English Girl', 'Stuck in the Metal', 'Miss Alissa'
I feel like I haven't reviewed anything not metal here since I went through the Steppenwolf catalogue about a year and a half ago! True, I reckon at least 60-70% of my collection is metal, give or take, but I do sometimes listen to other shit! Although it's hugely ironic that Eagles of Death Metal aren't actually a death metal band - let alone a metal band of any kind - despite the name! They are however a band I've been following for quite some time now. I didn't really get into them until my early 20s, but I've actually been aware of them since this 2004 debut - mainly because the song 'I Only Want You' was featured in the PS2 game Gran Turismo 4 (I sank plenty of hours into GT back in school)! Also, I'm sure I remember 'I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)' getting play on Kerrang! radio about 20 years ago... right?! Maybe I just dreamt that. Whatever! Point is, I've been well aware of this band since at least 2005, but didn't really get into them until 10 or so years after! In 2015 I saw them live at Riot Fest in Chicago (I was on holiday in the States that year) with my mate. That was the point I really started to give them the time of day because I thought they were stupidly fun on stage, and Jesse Hughes is quite the unique character and frontman. I've seen them a couple more times live since. Obviously in the studio, EODM are a duo. Hughes on vocals/guitar and Queens of the Stone Age's own Josh Homme on drums. To see Homme play live with the band is sadly quite rare as far as I know, but he's integral to the songwriting and studio albums.

And as for this 2004 debut album, Peace Love Death Metal, it's a good'un! Good old-fashioned, bare-bones garage rock n' roll with a sort of quirky sense of humour! The songs are short and simplistic in composition, but there's memorable hooks scattered all over this album. Right from the get-go, opening upbeat rocker 'I Only Want You' gets my foot tappin'! The riffs are so simple, the chorus so catchy and the song so... rock n' roll, man! Same goes for 'Speaking in Tongues', which actually packs a bit of punch. And then there's tracks like the chunky, almost bluesy 'Flames Go Higher', and the surprisingly strong cover of Stealers Wheel's 'Stuck In the Middle with You' (retitled here as 'Stuck in the Metal')! Or how about the insanely catchy 'So Easy' and up-tempo 'Miss Alissa'? Great stuff! There's so much fucking sleaze going on throughout the record too... like the songs are really boozy and greasy, and full of attitude - just listen to 'Already Died' and 'Midnight Creeper' to see what I mean.

The sleaziness of this album combined with Hughes' swagger reminds me a lot of the Rolling Stones, especially during the Sticky Fingers/Exile on Main St. era of the early '70s. To be honest, I think the attitude and delivery of Jesse Hughes is key to this band's success and appeal. Like I said, the songs are extremely simplistic and almost feel like improvised garage band jams at times - but this combined with Hughes' sense of humour and sleazy demeanour are what make Eagles of Death Metal such a fun band. He mixes his vocals up, sometimes doing this high-pitched, fun delivery, other times singing at a lower tone as well. And he's awesome live. I'm not taking away anything from Homme; I mean, this is the guy who fronts Queens of the Stone Age for crying out loud (and let's not forget the fact he was in Kyuss prior). But I think if you replaced Homme on drums, it'd have less of an impact than replacing Hughes - that's all I'm saying (plus Homme barely plays live with EODM anyway).

By the way, I know a lot of people on sites like Reddit take issue with Hughes' politics/drug abuse and whatever else, but I'm simply looking at him from a purely musical perspective - BECAUSE THIS IS A PERSONAL MUSIC BLOG AND BRINGING POLITICS INTO EVERYTHING IS GETTING FUCKING BORING!! Musically speaking, there's nothing political about this band anyway! I don't know what his reputation is in the States, but when I saw the band back in 2021 in the UK, the crowd were chanting his name which actually put tears of joy in the man's face. 

I like the production too. The overdriven guitar tones are raw and honest, and the album sounds like the product of a garage jam band - as it should. Maybe the bass/low end is lacking, but the songs feel like 2 blokes just fooling around in a little rehearsal room with a guitar and drum kit. There's enough polish that the production as a whole feels much more professional than a rough demo, but not glossy enough that it takes away from the garage rock aura of the band.

There's nothing pretentious about this album, it's just a fun, back-to-basics kind of rock n' roll affair. The music and band as a whole needs a charismatic frontman like Jesse Hughes to give these songs character; like I was saying, the songs feel like basic improvised rockers/sleaze-fests, but it doesn't mean they can't be great. With some faceless vocalist, they probably wouldn't be great - but thankfully this isn't the case! A very fun debut indeed. Not a masterwork by any stretch of the imagination, and I also feel like a lot of Queens of the Stone Age fans will check out EODM by default because of Josh Homme's involvement. They're not the same by any measure! Doesn't mean you shouldn't check 'em out though!

Edit: The last time I reviewed stuff that wasn't metal was when I was working on the Deep Purple solo artists page!
Adam's rating: 8/10


DEATH BY SEXY          2006          (Downtown)
- Standouts: 'I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)', 'I Gotta Feelin (Just Nineteen)', 'Solid Gold', 'Don't Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!)' 'Chase the Devil', 'Shasta Beast'
I normally default to either Peace Love Death Metal or Heart On whenever I feel like listening to this band, but after listening to Death by Sexy again in who knows how long for this review, I'm struggling to understand why that is. It's a rock-solid sequel! I will say that even though it undoubtedly gives similar vibes to the debut, there's still some differences present. The album sounds a little more accomplished and gives off less jamming vibes. Not that this isn't a garage rock album of course, because the riffs are still similar in style and structure, there's just a bit more going on now. I mean, the acoustic-tinged 'Solid Gold' is such a catchy, hooky little ditty! And it's over 4 minutes long! It's infectious like anything from the debut, but there's also no way this track could've appeared on said predecessor. But the sleaziness is definitely still here... and some songs certainly do sound like they've been ripped straight from the debut (e.g. 'The Ballad of Queen Bee and Baby Duck', 'Shasta Beast').

I find this album has a slightly harder-edge than the first one. Maybe that's down to the fuller production, but some of the songs have a 'lotta bite, like 'Don't Speak (I Came to Make a Bang!)', 'Cherry Cola', 'Poor Doggie' and 'I Gotta Feelin (Just Nineteen)'. Others aren't afraid to experiment a little, like the aforementioned 'Solid Gold', but also the upbeat rockabilly-ish 'Chase the Devil'. Despite these differences, the album still feels like a natural progression of the debut. Jesse Hughe's attitude is written all over the songs, they just don't feel like they're dicking around in a rehearsal room so much now. Oh, and I can't not mention the fast rocker opener 'I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)' too; as I said in the review above, I swear to god Kerrang! played this on the radio a fair bit back in '06. It's one of the first EODM songs I ever heard along with 'I Only Want You'. Production is definitely better this time too. Not that I don't like the way Peace Love Death Metal sounds (the simplicity only works in it's favour), but there's a lot more low end in Death by Sexy, and it the songs definitely benefit from this. Moreover, the guitars still have that honest, no-nonsense overdrive sound like they did last time.

Really, this album is as good as the debut - maybe even better. It's a tad more polished, sure, but it takes nothing away from what made them so fun in the first place. For whatever reason though, I still seem to gravitate more towards the first album over this one! 
Adam's rating: 8/10


HEART ON         2008         (Downtown)
- Standouts: 'Anything 'Cept the Truth', 'Wannabe in L.A.', '(I Used to Couldn't Dance) Tight Pants', 'High Voltage', 'Secret Plans', 'Now I'm a Fool', 'I'm Your Torpedo'
In my opinion, this one's the best of the bunch. Even though it's not terribly different from Death by Sexy, I just find there's a few more standout tracks on Heart On. For instance, the riffy '(I Used to Couldn't Dance) Tight Pants' and groovy 'Wannabe in L.A.' might just be 2 of their catchiest songs ever. That use of percussion in 'Wannabe in L.A.' in particular adds so much to the track, and makes it all the more memorable! 'High Voltage' too, is extremely catchy. It's driven by bass more than anything else which makes it stand out by default, but the hooks are to die for - hooky garage rock! And who could forget 'Secret Plans'? Jesse Hughe's vocals combined with the guitar synths (at least I think that's what I'm hearing!) make for a short but sweet rocker I can listen to over and over again! Hell, even the acoustic ballad (!!) 'Now I'm a Fool' is a great one! It's not a mushy, slushy ballad, it's more like a smooth, summery kind of affair! The catchiest songs on this disc - in case you couldn't tell - are SO catchy! I can comfortably throw the title track into that list too! 

Heart On also has a very similar production style to Death by Sexy, which is fine by me. It's more professional-sounding than the debut, but isn't too manufactured for it's own good. It still feels like a fine slab of good-time garage rock at the end of the day. So no complaints in that department. I do think maybe 'How Can a Man With So Many Friends Feel So Alone' and 'Solo Flights' border on filler though, but at least they still have the same sleazy attitude of the rest of the tracks! I'd be lying if I said the album isn't a tad front-loaded however, in that the first half is definitely stronger than the second. But the fact of the matter is I still enjoy this album from more-or-less beginning to end. Maybe it isn't as consistent overall as either previous record, but the best songs here totally overshadow the best one's from Peace Love Death Metal and Death by Sexy. And that's all I really look for from this band - catchy, hooky rock n' roll songs with Hughes' charm written all over them. Heart On delivers just that.
Adam's rating: 8.2/10


ZIPPER DOWN          2015          (Universal)
- Standouts: 'Complexity', 'Got the Power', 'Skin-Tight Boogie', Save a Prayer'
Things have been pretty scarce from the Eagles of Death Metal camp. They did do a covers album in 2019 as well as a jokey Christmas EP in 2021, but 2015's Zipper Down is still the most recent album of original studio tracks. I have to admit, I haven't spent a lot of time with this one compared to the other 3, even though I've owned it for several years. It always gets overshadowed, but every time I have listened to it, it's certainly provided me with enough entertainment for me to consider it a pretty good album. I think the problem with Zipper Down for me stems from the fact there's not a lot of bite to many of these tracks. Now, Eagles of Death Metal were never really a hard rock band, but there was certainly a Rolling Stones-esque danger to them even if they weren't trying to be heavy. They're a rock n' roll band after all!

 As I said before though, this is definitely a listenable album, meaning there are at least a handful of cool songs to be found. 'Complexity' is an absurdly catchy opener, can't deny that. 'Got the Power' is a fun, feel-good rocker. 'Skin-Tight Boogie' is a totally sleazy, bass-heavy, slow burner, and I love it. Also, the cover of Duran, Duran's 'Save a Prayer' is a hellish fun one - this band have always been pretty great at cover songs. Really, none of the songs in general are poor, but aside from the one's I've just listed, I'll freely admit that it's hard for me to pick any other standouts. The rest of the album suffers a little from "autopilot syndrome" - songs that definitely sound like EODM, just not quite up to the same standards of any of the last 3 records, and often a little too tame to my ears. The lack of punchy, riffy songs like we had previously (e.g. 'I Only Want You', 'Speaking in Tongues', 'I Want You So Hard (Boy's Bad News)' etc.) seems to rub me the wrong way, and many of the hooks throughout aren't as infectious as what Heart On had to offer. Maybe the novelty of the band was wearing off at this point? At least Zipper Down sounds as good as the rest from a production standpoint. And at least there are some gems to found here too.

Still, you can pick up these 4 Eagles of Death Metal albums dirt cheap - and even if Zipper Down is by far the weakest of the lot, at the very least it still sounds like an EODM record. So I won't say avoid this one completely.
Adam's rating: 6.8/10