Queens of the Stone Age will release their ninth studio album, Perfecth, on October 30, 2026, through Matador Records. Produced by Joshua Homme and Michael Shuman, the nine-song record took shape across different cities and periods in the band’s life, with love, loss and repair providing its central framework.
The lineup of Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman, Dean Fertita and Jon Theodore announced the album alongside “Insignificant Other,” its second preview following “Easy Street” and the song the band identifies as the record’s centerpiece.
Lyrically, “Insignificant Other” examines the distance created when someone who once occupied an entire world suddenly disappears. The song is less concerned with the separation itself than with its aftermath: the disorientation of learning to exist inside a reality reorganized by absence.
The result does not sound deliberately unfinished. It works because the five musicians understand the space occupied by every instrument and can alter that balance without disrupting the song. Homme recalled that the band immediately recognized an entire album could be built around that degree of interaction.
The album draws its central metaphor from kintsugi, the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery by emphasizing its fractures with gold. Instead of attempting to restore an object to an untouched condition, the process incorporates damage into its history and makes the repair part of its identity.
Queens of the Stone Age applied that principle to nine songs about family, friendship, desire and the relationships that can either dismantle or rebuild a person. The compositions do not attempt to impose a clean resolution on those experiences. They retain the contradictions, wear and damage accumulated along the way.
Recording unfolded across multiple studios, cities and timelines. Homme acknowledged that some of the material could not be completed through additional studio work alone. He needed enough distance and experience to understand where the songs belonged.
“The reason these songs didn't get finished until now is because I wasn't qualified to finish them, yet,” he admitted.
Perfecth will be available on CD, standard black vinyl, clear vinyl through independent retailers and a limited deluxe edition containing handwritten lyrics, stationery, stamps and a bespoke artwork. “Insignificant Other” is available now across digital platforms.
