Review: Queens of THE Stone AGE new Album - Qotsa

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - Lullabies to paralyze
out now!

Practice. Practice. Practice. 3 words that can either inspire you out of a midnight bone-creaking lyric stuck slumber, or, it can dilute the facts, chip the tip off of a scratched painted fingernail, but sometimes, just sometimes, it can also make you release an album of fucking great tunes.

Simply put, yes, but that’s how I like it.

This is the problem that some people see with Queens frontman/engine/driver, Josh Homme. His quality control and output is always nothing short of staggeringly unrivalled. Kicking of with Kyuss, then Queens, followed by Eagles of death metal on a weekend, Desert Sessions round the back, various side bands during time-off, and it’s all good.

If you like your news, then the making of ‘Lullabies to paralyze’ is shrouded in revisionism in regards to bass player and Homme’s old mucker Nick Oliveri. He got the swift boot for being a one-man tornado on an already crowded tour bus. So, he’s not on this record. And?

Did the world fall apart? No. Did Oliveri go back to doing what he did when he left Kyuss? Yes. Has he been working on Mondo Generator and does he appear on the new Turbonegro album (as well supporting them on their forthcoming dates) and does he also plan to work with Winnebago Deal? Uh huh. Did Homme carry on with his business-as-usual tenacity?
He would and he did. Andy Cairns from Therapy? says that ‘happy people have no fucking stories’ so by now, you’ll have guessed that the making of almost any album as good as this isn’t smoothly done. Anticipation, pressure, and creativity.

Listen to Lullabies once and you’ll hear Songs for the deaf. Listen to it twice and Rated R will be next on your stereo. Listen to it again and you’ll be singing Regular John before you can say ‘calling this album stoner rock is only a means to my own end.’ So that’s why this records isn’t too far from the first QOTSA album. Robotic. Dimly lit. Slinkier. Sleazier.

This is feel-good sex with a hefty dash of the unexpected. Brody Dalle, I presume, has thankfully got a lot to answer for.

The core line-up for Queens version 1.0 way back then was Homme, former Kyuss drummer Alfredo Hernandez, and at times, Kyuss/QOTSA producer Chris Goss. A close-call family affair that twisted around your spine until you had to hit play again. The first half of Lullabies is, like most of that album, tightly strung up, and very very very easy to groover to. I’m not a hippy, but I do know when to nod my head and shuffle my feet. The second half is pure meat like Rated R and Songs for the deaf.

Thrown at the wall for us to catch with guests galore that includes Goss (again), Distillers frontwoman (and a highly underrated guitarist) Brody Dalle, and Shirley Manson from Garbage. ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons also turns up to add a legendary flavour, and Mark Lanegan, possibly the greatest advertisement for why some singers should smoke, well, no explanation’s needed for him.

If you do need one, two words: Screaming Trees. Lullabies to paralyze is thankfully both quick and long. Most of the cd’s that sit on your rack have a shelf life of between 2 to 5 listens. Lullabies to paralyze will outlast most of your collection because it has the distance to keep growing. Summer looks like fun and you might not know it yet but you’ve just been handed the best soundtrack.

Chay Woodman