Queens Of The Stone Age Lullabies To Paralyze CD

On SONGS FOR THE DEAF, Queens of the Stone Age became a rock supergroup, consisting of vocalist/guitarist Joshua Homme (Kyuss), vocalist/bassist Nick Oliveri (Dwarves), vocalist Mark Lanegan (Screaming Trees), and drummer Dave Grohl (Nirvana, Foo Fighters). This lineup effectively blew other heavy-rock acts out of the water, and seriously raised the band's profile. By the time of 2005's LULLABIES TO PARALYZE, however, Oliveri had acrimoniously departed the group, while Grohl and Lanegan had returned to their own projects, leaving Homme as the sole member.

Admirably, Homme plows ahead on LULLABIES TO PARALYZE with the assistance of multi-instrumentalists Troy Van Leeuwen and Alain Johannes and drummer Joey Castillo. Lanegan returns as a guest on the haunting opener, "This Lullaby," and his gravelly vocals provide a fitting link between the old and new QOTSA incarnations. Homme wastes no time getting to his intense brand of riff-heavy rock with the amped-up one-two punch of "Medication" and "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane." Elsewhere Homme conjures up moody, mid-tempo songs, most notably "Burn the Witch," a lumbering tune that features Lanegan and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons. While it would be nearly impossible to top SONGS FOR THE DEAF, Homme sticks to his strengths on LULLABIES, and the result is another fierce rock record.

Before heading into the studio in early 2004 to record the fourth Queens of the Stone Age album, Lullabies to Paralyze, the band's guitarist/vocalist/chief songwriter, Josh Homme, kicked out bassist Nick Oliveri for undisclosed reasons. Since Homme and Oliveri were longtime collaborators, dating back to the 1990 formation of their previous band, Kyuss, this could have been a cause for concern, but QOTSA is not an ordinary band, so ordinary rules do not apply. Throughout their history, from Kyuss through Queens of the Stone Age's 2002 breakthrough Songs for the Deaf, Homme and Oliveri have been in bands whose lineups were as steady as quicksand; their projects were designed to have a revolving lineup of musicians, so they can withstand the departure of key musicians, even one as seemingly integral to the grand scheme as Oliveri -- after all, he left Kyuss in 1994 and the band carried on without him. Truth is, the mastermind behind QOTSA has always been Josh Homme -- he's the common thread through the Kyuss and QOTSA albums, the guy who has explored a similar musical vision on his side project the Desert Sessions -- and since he's wildly indulging his obsessions on Lullabies to Paralyze, even hardcore fans will be hard-pressed to notice the absence of Oliveri here. Sure, there are some differences -- most notably, Lullabies lacks the manic metallic flourishes of their earlier work, and the gonzo humor and gimmicks, such as the radio DJ banter on Deaf, are gone -- but it all sounds like an assured, natural progression from ...