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Songs For The Deaf
EMAILPRINTby Queens Of The Stone Age

Universal acclaim
Based on 23 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 122 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Interscope
Release Date: 27 August 2002
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Metal, Alternative
Summary
Stoner metal is back in the form of the third LP from Queens of the Stone Age, who are supplemented for this release (and supporting tour) by drummer Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) and former Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan.
Also By This Artist: Era Vulgaris Lullabies To Paralyze
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Entertainment Weekly
The year's best hard-rock album. [6 Sep 2002, p.86]
Launch.com
This is one of the most accomplished, powerful, and entertaining hard rock albums ever made.
Read Full Review >Uncut
[A] breathtaking, virtually flawless album. [Sep 2002, p.104]
Stylus Magazine
Queens Of The Stone Age are the greatest heavy rock band on the face of the planet and soon everyone will know it.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Whether or not Songs for the Deaf manages to break through to the ever-fickle TRL crowd remains to be seen; those people with the patience to sit through this remarkable album a few times, though, will know the score.
Read Full Review >Splendid
The bottom line is that QOTSA turns in another genre-demolishing, hard-as-titanium album in Songs for the Deaf. This is not your father's metal. It's better.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
An album that, for all of its flaws, is still easily one of the best rock records of 2002.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
'The Sky Is Fallin' is a beast.... 'God Is In The Radio' has got just such an awesome riff, like the Lord himself hotwired to a Marshall amp.
Read Full Review >Magnet
The playing is imaginative, the ideas vibrant and shimmering and the band's considerable melodic gifts sabotaged by either willfully obtuse compositional tricks or outright punk bratiness. [#55, p.84]
New Musical Express (NME)
Their world - sexual, drug-filled, and occasionally paranoid - has become progressively darker, and as such we find them nothing less than guardians of the rock flame.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Musically and vocally, the band sounds tighter and more accomplished than ever.
Read Full Review >Delusions of Adequacy
All in all, this album has everything any hard rock fan would enjoy.
Read Full Review >Blender
While cliches abound... this huge music is delivered with panache. [#9, p.154]
Playlouder
'Songs For The Deaf' is a triumph, a record forged with fire and sweat in the pits of Valhalla... It is the very essence of Rock.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
Mixes melancholy and might to a rare degree. [Sep 2002, p.104]
Mojo
All the elements which made its predecessor so great are here, but in excelsis, and occasionally excess. [Sep 2002, p.95]
Pitchfork
When these guys are on, it truly is the wrath of the righteous. However, Songs for the Deaf vacillates constantly between soaring heights and mind-numbing lows, making for a true hit-or-miss affair.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
A balls-out, hateful, heavy, and catchy piece of work that rocks like it was 1994 all over again.
Read Full Review >Trouser Press
[The opening] quartet of tunes blows the band's wad, leaving the rest of the album scattered with only moderately cool mid- tempo metal, all of it delivered with gusto but not enough serious hooks to make anything stand out.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
Whether the ace metal is speedy or onerous (or both, as in the case of "Six Shooter," with its shrieking insanity), it is always deployed in the service of the eccentric song structures, and every track becomes a splendid, mysterious thing.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 9.2 (out of 10) based on 122 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Daniel W gave it a10:
Classic album. Better than any of their other stuff I've heard. Admittedly its one of those albums that takes a while to get into, bet your into it, its absolutely fantastic. It seems its a love it or leave it album x.
Vatishi 7 gave it a10:
The beginning of a life long love affair. Better than brilliant.
Ikarus14 gave it a9:
Simply awesome!
Stevie C gave it a10:
Definitely the best rock album of the decade and possibly one of the best albums of all time. When i first listened to it, i thought it was a bit repetitive, i liked a few songs; but within a month i started to realize how different and colorful each track was. There is not a single bad song on this album and i love the concept of the album being set in the Californian desert. It will take a while to grasp how brilliant it is but have patience. Anyone who gives this album a negative review has not really listened to it as far as i'm concerned. This album deserves to (AND HOPEFULLY WILL BE) be looked back upon in 10-20 years as one of the all time classics.
Al L gave it a10:
Why had I only heard the singles? Every track was given so very much love. If you like Saul Williams, you will like this.
Chris K gave it a10:
Quite possibly one of the greatest musical experiences ever crafted. You have to listen to the tracks in order to fully enjoy the wicked concept this album presents; tuning into various radio stations as you embark on your journey to the Mojave Desert.
John K gave it a10:
Brutal. Melodic. Trance-inducing. Pounding rhythm. Pulsing guitars. And that is only Song for the Dead. If you listen to all the songs on this album you will discover that you no longer look at music the same way.
