I must admit, I wasn’t entirely optimistic when Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age), Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), and John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), announced they would be joining forces to create another ill-conceived supergroup.

However, much to my surprise, Them Crooked Vultures aren’t nearly as bad as I originally imagined, and their self-titled debut (available on November 17) mixes enough new with old to hold the short attention spans of stoners and aging hippies alike.

Led Zeppelin they are not, but “Scumbag Blues” attempts to capture some of their Heavy Metal majesty, as a versatile Jones rocks the keyboards like no one else could.

Homme channels Paul Westerberg on the Replacements inspired single “Mind Eraser, No Chaser”, whose dated garage band sound is a welcome addition to an album teaming with seething blues licks.