a long, slow hello: "lullabies to paralyze" is buried in my head

It's fairly apparent that most bands, when given any sort of positive attention from the mainstream music moguls (oooh, lovely alliteration there, and we've barely even started…), will adapt their sound in order to better suit the needs of their now ever-growing fanbase. Of course, there are some exceptions to this, er, rule -- most notably Radiohead and Nirvana, both of whom chose to take the 'difficult' approach to making music after being given heaped praise by the media. However, most sane bands will take the former path (c'mon, who's seriously trying to tell me that Thom Yorke and Kurt Cobain aren't/weren't a bit loony in the ole' noggin?), and Queens of the Stone Age are no different. Granted, when they first started they were so little-known that any re-forming of sound wouldn't have made the slightest bit of difference in regards to their fans or their reviewers, but since then they've crafted a nice little niche for themselves while watering their sound down ever-so-slightly as each album passes. I'd take the starting-point to be 2000's Rated R (I own the self-titled debut, as I'd assume most fans of the band do, but it's forgettable enough to disregard in this case), where the guys started to hone their skills -- namely, the copious consuming of numerous drugs, and its effects on what music they'd play.

See, they play what's come to be known as 'stoner rock'; not only a lovely description of the sound of the music (it's kinda likened to listening to an avalanche of boulders at times, as desert-dry as the guitars and drums are) but also an apt term as relates to the state of most of the minds at work during recording. Rated R, while unquestionably magnificent, was undoubtedly the work of some warped heads, and had no intentions of ever grazing the seams of chart glory. Most of the record was incredibly schizophrenic, and at times abandoned the rough, barren stylings to indulge in long spells of what can only be described as nonsensical lunacy. (Honestly, be careful with this review; I'm feeling especially wordy today.) For whatever reason -- though, perhaps a couple of adulatory reviews in rock mags might've helped -- 2002's Songs For The Deaf, while not at all 'normal' in any shape or form, did seem to carry more of a sensibility for the casual listener's ear. While, of course, being a bloody brilliant rock album; everyone should probably hear it. Granted, not everyone will even stretch to _liking_ it -- many of the songs contained inexplicable screaming, and the bulldozing guitars and experimental bent were still evident in the band. But hey, it suits me down to the ground, and I believe that QOTSA are one of the strangely compulsive oddities in rock music today.

So, we enter 2005 territory, and Mr. Josh Homme -- leader of, founder of, and just about only-consistent-band-member in QOTSA -- has been a busy boy as usual. Never mind the excitement about the release of Lullabies To Paralyze, his main band's newest album (and one expected to make a big splash in the rock pool… ha!), because he'd kept his mind occupied with enough 'stuff', shall we say, to keep any music addict foaming at the mouth. Ever since the split of his first band Kyuss -- originators of the whole stoner rock movement, and who were around primarily in the early '90s -- he's been writing a song-a-minute, and even some in his sleep, judging by his musical output. Besides running one of the most exciting bands in rock music (the aforementioned subjects of this review) he's collaborated with too many artists to count, and recently released an album with his pseudo-joke band, the Eagles of Death Metal. One of his most ongoing and interesting projects is also his Desert Session albums, wherein he teams up with a number of other uber-talented musicians and pumps out lots of raw fuzzy little songs in the space of a week or so -- these have been consistently released every couple of years, I believe, as we're on sessions nine and ten now. So let's just say that he sweats music out of his big oily pores.

Anyway, what's up with the new QOTSA album, Lullabies To Paralyze? Well, as alluded to earlier, it definitely takes a turn for the more crowd-pleasing approach; that's not to say that it _does_ please the crowds, however, but when compared to other QOTSA work it's relatively mild. Just to confirm: most people you meet will not 'get it', to the point of probably hating it. Well, boo to them I say, for they're missing out on some tasty morsels of tune-age. It has to have been hard for Homme; the QOTSA line-up has never exactly been settled, and it's a little bit different again on this album. For one, they've lost bassist Nick Oliveri (the other sorta-founding member), whose blood-churning screams were a staple of the band's music. However, like in every QOTSA album, the ever-changing band members seem to meld together nicely and sound about as in-synch as, say, [place band who've been together for ages here]. The same essential QOTSA elements are all in the mixer on Lullabies To Paralyze: Homme's dry, lackadaisical vocals; those churning, bloodthirsty, scratchy guitar rips; and the general unpredictability of the tunes. The album _does_ split neatly into two halves, though. The first half (technically, I'd say tracks one-eight, so this'd be the bigger half, even though that's mathematically impossible) seems geared more towards snappy, 'easy' tunes -- you could quite easily hand-pick three or four singles from this section (note the omission of 'hit' in front of singles there). The second half tends towards the trippier, meandering style: more of the tracks float towards the five-minute plus mark. I don't know if this album was aided by the taking of drugs or not, but it's certainly more akin to Rated R than Songs For The Deaf -- oh, and better than the former but slightly weaker than the latter… just to confirm.

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Each song here seems to bring about its own separate entity altogether, and I really like it when an album does that. I know, I know, technically albums should flow nicely, but sometimes I just prefer it when a CD seems more like a 'collection of songs', really. It becomes apparent that first single, "Little Sister", definitely isn't the most accessible thing on the disc: its simplicity belies its complexity, if you get what I'm sayin'. If the guitars didn't burp ahead as menacingly as they do, and if the whole song didn't sound like a big explosive fart, I'd maybe see some reason for it being a chart-destroyer. Alas, it's only brilliant to us stoner rock freaks; the _power_ that the song generates, particularly in the bulldozer-ish choruses, is quite frightening. Homme's vocals are almost seductive as he sings creepy lines like "Hey little sister, can I come inside, dear? / I wanna show you all my love." Why Homme wants to do these things to his little sister is frankly none of my business, but anyway… the drums kick up a dirty great fuss and plough the song forward nicely. All in all, it signalled what the album would be like quite accurately for me.

I said it wasn't the most accessible thing on the disc, though, so what is? Possibly "In My Head", which incidentally is the current single. A track created on Homme's Desert Sessions side-project, I'm not sure whether I prefer the slicker production on this disc or the raw, stripped-down feel of the song's originator. No matter because it's a delightful slice of pop, QOTSA-style, flowing along nicely with a few killer hooks along the way, and an engulfing fire hazard of a solo towards the end. Homme displays infatuation in the lyrics: "I keep on playing our favourite song / I turn it up while you're gone / It's all I've got when you're in my head, and you're in my head so I need it." Even more radio-worthy than this is the slightly sickening "I Never Came" -- these two tracks sandwich the rawkin' "Little Sister" between them. Anyway, "I Never Came" is everything you wouldn't expect from QOTSA: gentle, caressing, with some airy falsetto vocals and a heavenly feel (an effect which is added to by the delirious soloing guitar tag-line). Slightly sickening, yes, but not enough for it _not_ to be considered borderline brilliant.

Winding up the highlights of the short-lived first half of the record, "Medication" rolls forward with considerable (and bombastic) aplomb, and it's over before you can say 'I… am so, like, stoned… dude.' It's raw, biting, and pacy, but it really doesn't do anything that this group hasn't accomplished much more successfully already. I'm pretty sure everyone can notice the similarities to previous hit single "No One Knows" in "Tangled Up In Plaid" -- it has the same plodding, deliberate rhythm, and the choruses are just as beefy… in fact, beefier. I particularly enjoy the last lines of this one -- "I could keep you all for myself / I know / You gotta be free / To kill yourself." Oh, and "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" opens with a few bluesy guitar licks before morphing into another fast-paced avalanche of a rocker. It's really nothing to get too excited about, though.

What _is_ worth getting excited about, though, is the album's nuttier second half: it may take a lot more time to get into than the stuff I've already mentioned, but it's far more rewarding and interesting. Some people may see the seven-plus minutes, ridiculously titled "Someone's In The Wolf" as nothing more than a meandering set of guitar farts; some may see it as complete genius. I fall somewhere in the middle -- it's got some lovely virtuoso guitar work, conjuring up a quirky and squeaky riff, but perhaps the blotchy, vacant gap in the middle of the track is a little too much. Whereas "The Blood Is Love" doesn't feel the need to take a gap in its over six-minute running time; it simply ploughs forward on a ludicrously scratchy (and, simultaneously, whining) riff, getting quicker and more urgent as it nears its frantic conclusion.

Thing like "Broken Box" emulate the first half, but are far more… well, odd. The song in question's magnificence is unquestionable. It bumbles along on solely a bass line (oh my word, I just sneezed all over my keyboard… never mind) and cheesy vocals for the first little while, before an insanely BIG, spiralling solo gets played on constant loop over the top. It displays itself in a very playful fashion, almost like a kid's song, although words like 'pussy' being randomly inserted will ensure that it never is. Speaking of pussy, "Skin On Skin" is (as if you couldn't guess by the title) a filthy, sweaty, sordid little song -- and the music complements the lyrics, by the way -- about sex. My favourite lines are probably "I hate to see you leave, but I love to watch you go, baby," and "I wanna lick you too much." Now that's just filth, and I don't condone it in the slightest (despite the fact that I just picked favourite lines. Oh well). It finishes with a climax (aha!) and a smoke. Nothing unusual there, so let's move on.

Hmm… I don't really have much to say about the two closing songs, "'You Got A Killer Scene There, Man…'" and "Long Slow Goodbye": the former is a lazy, surly, trippy, and almost jazzy number; the latter fits its title, as it really is long and slow… oh, and the acoustic riff is just gorgeous, sounding as though it's being played through the telephone. You probably have to hear it to understand me.

I can't say Lullabies To Paralyze surprised me much: it's about as consistent an album as I'd expect from Queens of the Stone Age. And by 'consistent', I actually mean 'inconsistent'. If you're familiar with the band, you'll know what I mean. Its first and second halves are entirely different, yet mix together quite frivolously and, even though it has its moments of nonsense and 'What the hell were they thinking there?', I'd still be a total dumbass not to heartily recommend this latest offering from Homme and the boys to you. And by 'you', I actually mean 'people who already like QOTSA and/or stoner rock in general'. If you're familiar with the band, you'll know what I mean.

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Excellent: Tangled Up In Plaid, In My Head, Little Sister, Broken Box
Good: This Lullaby, Medication, Everybody Knows That You Are Insane, Burn The Witch, I Never Came, Someone's In The Wolf, The Blood Is Love, Skin On Skin, Long Slow Goodbye
Average: 'You Got A Killer Scene There, Man…'
Weak: NONE

Final Rating: 15/20