Queens Of The Stone Age embrace high drama on morbidly sumptuous 'Alive In The Catacombs'
In what feels like a logical halo performance for a band that spent most of its early career routinely tempting fate and defying death with wild-eyed abandon, Queens Of The Stone Age commune with the dead themselves in a unique performance filmed along the twisted subterranean caverns Paris’ infamous Plague-era Catacombs.
Eschewing the unhinged mania of the band’s landmark LPs Rated R and Songs For The Deaf, Queens Of The Stone Age effectively place their starting point of reference at their divisive and experimental 2007 LP, Era Vulgaris, beginning the set with an appropriately haunting rendition of the vinyl-only B-side “Running Joke” that sets the scene effectively within the macabre environs. From here Homme and Co. lean into their later body of work, pulling selections from …Like Clockwork, Villains, and their most recent In Times New Roman. These releases are notable for the slower, more deliberate pace and deeply mature ruminations on love, loss, and live and death making them perfect fits for serenading the souls of those long past and the re-worked, string filled arrangements sing amidst the bones. On the back end of the set the band flashes a bit of their old edge with a gorgeously rendered take on “Suture Up Your Future” lush with ominous synth and dripping with venomous intent before reaching a subdued but cathartic climax with the maliciously sinister “I Never Came.”
Directed by Thomas Rames with photography by Théo Fauger, Alive In The Catacombs thrums with dramatic theatricality and arresting cinematography. Deep shadows creep along the seams and crevices like spectres stalking the warm bodies intruding on their place of eternal rest. The players are awash in the warm, sepia glow of digital lighting emulating natural candlelight but possessed of a hollowness devoid of the flickering dance of living flames like the static remains adorning the surrounding walls. As a whole the visual presence is morbidly sumptuous and elevates the band’s performance beyond a simple novelty into the pantheon of classic rock films.
Alive In The Catacombs is available now for streaming and download here. Follow Queens Of The Stone Age on Instagram.
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