Queens of the Stone Age – Lullabies To Paralyze.
Whatever inspired Joshua Homme to create something like
Lullabies to Paralyze certainly paid off. No longer having Nick Oliveri backing him on bass and Dave Grohl back with the Foo, this was clearly Homme’s time to shine.
Songs for the Deaf was an amazing album, but it seemed as though Homme was put on a restraint – case in point: the same guitar tones for nearly every song not counting
Mosquito Song. As a result, Homme’s creativity became limited. Not to mention,
Deaf was way too long and dragged out for longer than it should have gone.
But what of
Lullabies? The creativity from Joshua Homme gets to shine, much like with
Rated R. But instead of just making songs aimed for spreading the trademark QOTSA sound,
Lullabies focuses more on dark, folklore, children’s tale themed atmospheres. From beginning to end, all 14 tracks create a giant storyline rich with catchiness, presence, and entertainment.
This Lullaby, sung by Mark Lanegan perfectly sets the atmosphere and tones of
Lullabies, and every song following afterward build toward one giant climax. Energetic rockers
Medication, Everybody Knows That You’re Insane, and Little Sister keep the flow of the album going and add new dimensions into the ongoing rising action, while the laid-back grooves of
I Never Came, Burn the Witch, and Tangled Up In Plaid keep the listener's interest, until reaching the highlights of the album,
Someone’s In The Wolf and The Blood Is Love[/i].
Remember the climax I was talking about?
Someone’s In The Wolf is a seven minute epic, and is only one of the few shining examples of Homme’s creative force being at its strongest.
The Blood Is Love follows up afterward, and prepares the listener for the end of the album, gently bringing him/her into the falling action of this ongoing "storyline". However, the latter half after The Blood Is Love is shaky. Skin on Skin and Broken Box are decent songs, but there’s nothing special about them, and this hurts Lullabies in the end. But give credit to Homme for being able to finish strong with You Got A Killer Scene There Man and Long Slow Goodbye.
Overall,
Lullabies is an almost masterpiece. Even with the departed Oliveri and Grohl out of QOTSA in this album, this doesn’t harm Homme and his crew much, however, there’s no denying that
Lullabies is a step down from the dexterity of
Deaf. The drums simply cannot match up to Grohl’s melodic power, and the bass is nowhere near the power of Nick Oliveri’s bass grooves. But as
Lullabies proves for the most part, the lost technicality once present in
Deaf can take a backseat to the creative juices of Joshua Homme, and manage to not kill them in the end. And even though Homme was more creative than he ever was in
Lullabies,
Rated R is still the best Queens album to date, simply because
R had both the technicality and the creativity to make each and every song a classic, and that's something
Lullabies lacks when it’s all said and done.
Pros:
-Creativity at all time high for Joshua Homme.
-Nearly every song is fun to listen to again and again.
-Track positioning and timing well decided.
-Flawless buildup leading into
Someone’s In The Wolf and
The Blood Is Love.
Cons:
-Lacks the technicality that
Deaf presented (obviously)
-The album went on a tad too long.
4.7/5
