Everybody expects from a supergroup like “Them Crooked Vultures” to make something really great, although there are many examples of a total disappointment in similar attempts. Maybe they didn’t write the epic album of the millennium but did provide a respectable music material, leaving their personal imprint all over the record. The debut album is a spot on hard rock material, worthy of their established names in music. John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme show what does it mean to rock. Heavy but melodic, bluesy but modern, energetic but groovy, this is an album worth having in your collection. Although someone would assume that John Paul’s presence would bring more of the Zeppelin rhythms and riffs (“Rolling Stone” magazine even wrote that the Vultures “summon the spirit of Zep”,) to me, the band sounds more like Black Sabbath than Led Zeppelin. The Zeppelin influences are certainly huge, not only coming from Jones, but also from Grohl and Homme, who are hardcore Zep fans. But you could say the same about the Foo Fighters or QOTSA influences - I mean, come on, these are the same people here, they can’t just switch off themselves. However, a comparison is ungrateful, and you should not expect any familiar songs – the music is completely original, sounding different from any of the bands they were in before. The only thing that might come in the way of enjoying the album is that it feels kind of overstuffed with too many ideas. But that is generally the problem with supergroups - the multitude of authorities leads to a lack of authority. Although Josh Homme is the frontman here (being the singer and soloist), I can’t quite imagine him bossing Dave Grohl or John-Paul Jones around.
“Them Crooked Vultures” was released on November 16, 2009. The first single from the album, "New Fang", was released on October 26, 2009, followed by "Mind Eraser, No Chaser" on November 3. The album sold 70,000 units in the US in its first week and debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200.
