Sept. 2003 - Blender: A Drug Problem That Never Existed Review
by Ben Ratliff
A Drug Problem That Never Existed (Ipecac) - Pedal-to-metal rock to be put beside Bill Wyman's solo albums (2 stars)

As the bass player in Queens of the Stone Age, Nick Oliveri is the bald beanpole with the King Tut goatee, bouncing off the walls in counterpoint to the stoic motor-rocking of Josh Homme. His own quartet, Mondo Generator, suffers a little in comparison to Queens. Oliveri needs a grounding element; without it, he just plays the Neathderthal wild-ass screamer, doing a spectrum of punk-to-Sabbath heavy music that seems even less deeply felt than QOTSA's (samply lyric: "Once I was alive/But not anymore/The Drano in my blood is eatin' my brain"). On a few tracks, he switches to a more controlled singing style, but his muted side isn't very compelling, either.

Thanks to Jay Kloosterman for typing this up!

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