“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. The 50-year-old desert rocker’s had a rough time in the six years since the release of the glammy, Mark Ronson-produced Villains. Some of his best friends have died (including former bandmate Mark Lanegan, in 2022, and drinking buddy Anthony Bourdain, in 2018). His 2019 split from wife Brody Dalle devolved into a series of restraining orders and a battle for custody of their three children. Just this week, he revealed he was treated for cancer last year.
So this self-produced record finds Homme and co squaring up to the darkness: sometimes with a shrug and sometimes with a teeth-baring sneer. Fans will be happy to hear the band lock into some great, grinding riffs to drive the 10 new songs that clock in crisply around the four-minute mark. The band’s trademark raw revving is balanced at times by elegant strings and even a three-part harmony that works surprisingly well. Think of Crosby, Stills and Nash if they’d joined a biker gang.
