Queens of the Stone Age - In Times New Roman
Vinyl Style Packaging Review
Released: 16 June 2023.
Price: AUD$70 in black, colours are $5-10 more.
I've selected the 180g black vinyl to the shock and dismay of the record store guy. A box of Silver, Red, or Blue sat behind the counter for the staff’s easy access.
“Do you have it Black?” was such an unexpected question he had to think about it, go back, turn, then forward through the counter down to Q in the display racks and grab one from there. He’s happy he found it and says “Less trouble with Black, and it’s cheaper.” I feel seen.
It’s a double album sleeved in a gloss gatefold. The mostly black colouring has a sickly green-yellow tinge to give it real sewer alley rat vibes. QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE is written in all caps across the top - it’s a smallish maybe 14-16 size sans serif font. Apparently, the album title is not a reference to the font, rather a commentary on the contemporary parallels with the savage and gluttonous Roman times prior to the Empire’s fall. So you know you're in for a heavy head fuck on top of the expected sonic assault from Homme and Co.
The vinyl sits in sleeves of black thickened paper with nylon lining. Single-page lyric sheets sit in each outer sleeve slit, with capitalised handwritten lyrics in white against the black-green sewer rat background. The name of each song is numbered with a red-coloured numeral and the song name in a gold-coloured capped sans serif font.
The art design is by UK illustrator Boneface, who specialises in nihilistic dystopian imagery that blends a street and punk style of skate culture with a comic book aesthetic of bloodthirsty horror and superheroes. Boneface has previously been commissioned by QOTSA for Villains and …Like Clockwork.
The cover art for In Times New Roman is a striking illustration of a man with his back to us, face in profile suggesting anywhere from 20-50 years, a thick quiff of blue hair slicked back into a raging wolf head that faces us - jaw wide open, sharp teeth connected by web-like saliva that looks like a shot of venom being fired. The Wolf’s red pupil is glinting and the open jaw is pulling a red blindfold over Bluey.
Bluey is clothed in a black leather biker jacket with an OMG-style logo of a white snake curled to eat its own tail but a bloodied flick knife/switchblade has punctured through. The circled snake and straight knife is the stylised ‘Q’ logo first used on the Villains labels, and big nodding clap to this coz it is clever and looks retro tough.
Around the Snake-and-Knife Q logo is the reddy gold cursive script - In Times around the top half, New Roman … the bottom half. It’s like a gang name as a slogan.
Cuddling ol’ Bluey is three demon hands with the same sickly dark greeny bronze as Bluey’s face, plus some gnarly nails that suggests today’s nail fad seeks to simulate demon hands. There are also snakes all around the demon arms and hands and it all feels like permission to be bad. Permission to let your demonic shadow be your guide In Times New Roman because it’s what’s needed and perhaps the only way you’ll survive. Or maybe In Times New Roman we are all walking around with our demonic shadow self as the new normal.
It’s very Thinky.
Opening the gatefold is to walk into a scene well underway with four hooded humans beating a prone, er, thing. It has contorted arms but no visible head or legs but maybe one cloven hoofy-like limb as it lay either covered in a sheet or wearing it. One of the slayers has a skull face as it winds up a garden rake into a backhand ready to come down on the prone being.
One red-eyed hooded demon wears a sweater that says The End like it’s a movie title and Fuck Off in small print beneath it.
There’s a bondage-bound and ball-gagged woman squatted in a box in the corner and a person hanging upside down and bound at the feet, wearing a straitjacket and has a bull’s head with enormous horns that have ‘Bad Dog’ scratched into them.
One of the hooded bad guys looks like a classic executioner but wears striped shorts, argyle socks in blood-soaked Crocs, and a gold shoulder tatt of a skull and cross bones. Above the skull is written Phantom, and below the crossbones is the word Pain.
It’s dark, deathly, demonic. We don’t what’s going on or where, but it suggests evil is real wherever this is, and its parties are grim.
The back cover is black with a gold candle holder with a brightly burning red candle. The flame flare is just bright enough to reveal the immediate table setting. A red sash is beneath the candle holder and a ribbon is spread across the bottom with the words ‘In Times New Roman’, ‘Villains’, and ‘...Like Clockwork’ to let us know there is either design continuity, or this is a trilogy of albums.
Two white flowers and a blue flower wrap the base of the candle holder as a two headed snake is coiled from top to bottom of the candle. The song titles are on either side of the candle, capitalised in yellow.
It looks like a table setting where some evil demonic shit is about to go down.
The matrix runout has no messages, which is a missed opportunity given that is always awesome but would be on point here since it’s so heavily themed. Why not a message from whatever these creatures are, a vision statement from the rulers of In Time New Roman, or a clue to survival? Anything. But no, just boring serial numbers.
The labels continue the theme with Side A denoted by a black label with the word ‘In’ typed discreetly to the side of a candle with a long flickering flame. Side B has ‘Times’ written on a red background and the candle is extinguished. Side C, or ‘New’, is black with a snake slithering toward the spindle hole. Side D, ‘Roman’, is black with a new snake eating the other snake. There are no songs on Side D although there is a band in the middle that looks like a hidden track but isn't. This feels more annoying than just a smooth blank side. Again, a hologram or etching would have been perfect to complete the demonic concept.
Overall a pleasant experience. Some texture in the form of raised lettering would be welcome, but we’re getting something slick and simple that is conceptually considered. Heavy-weight materials and colours showcase rich and engrossing art that really gives the buyer something to consume above and beyond the music.
Rating (each has a possible score of 2):
Vinyl: 180g, Black. Other colours available. (2)
Outer sleeve: Gloss cardboard gatefold, strong artistic concept. (1.5)
Inner sleeve: Black paper with nylon lining (1.5)
Label: Artistic concept (1.5)
Extras: Lyric sheets (1)
Overall Packaging: 7.5