Ever since the untimely demise of Nirvana, diehard grunge fans have sought in vain for a band worthy enough to take their place. Now that search may finally be over, in the rather imposing shape of Californian rockers Queens of the Stone Age. The credit for their monumental new album lies not just with the Queens themselves, however, but with the collaborators they've drafted in - Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan and, symbolically, Dave Grohl, taking a break from the Foo Fighters and banging those drums like it's 1992 all over again. It all adds up to something of a grunge supergroup, with a scarily powerful noise to match - never mind the deaf, most of these weirdly compulsive songs could waken the dead. And yet, while the Queens' heavy metal riffage strikes home with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, their mature, anguished lyrics suggest that there's plenty of brains lying behind the brawn. A long, long way from the adolescent whinings of nu-metal, Songs for the Deaf is a truly great album - and if enough people get to hear it, could well be a landmark one too.