Death By Sexy

Most of Death By Sexy bounces on a bluesy, garage-rock frame, and whether the format was chosen for its relatively simplicity or damp, backwater feel, it's a perfect fit. "Cherry Cola" ups the tempo and stretches Hughes' voice ever higher, and the overtly sexual lyrics and onomatopoeias of "Don't Speak (I Came To Make A Bang)" pair up with the track's insistent guitar and sudden stops. Eagles of Death Metal also flirt very successfully with stomper "Poor Doggie", the almost-rockabilly "Chase The Devil", which showcases Jesse Hughes' rubbery vocals, and "Bag O' Miracles", the band's take on the traditional. The low-key-but-mostly-odd "The Ballad Of Queen Bee & Baby Duck" also mucks around the blues, but doesn't hold up too well as anything more than Homme and wife Brody Dale's branding of Death By Sexy. Like Peace Love Death Metal before it, Death By Sexy rocks because it feels right. Some may take shots at the band for its heavily ironic and iconic clichés, but rock and roll has always been about physicality and swagger, and most of all, release. Eagles of Death Metal's signature sound has a lot in common with its front man's faux-porn-mustache: people might not take the thing seriously, but that doesn't stop Hughes from keeping it in tip-top form, a perfectly-groomed identifier of the connection between over-the-top erotic intensity and harmless humor. In any case, the thing looks good on him, and if you can get away with pulling something off, why not?

It oozes cool.