Lullabies To Paralyze (Parental Advisory/+DVD) [Digipak] [PA] - Queens Of The Stone Age > Reviews > Lullabies In Paralysis

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Groundbreaking
Lyrics	Sublime
Quality and consistency of tracks	A couple of weak links
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Excellent

Advantages:	Fantastic fourth album, no loss in strength
Disadvantages:	Takes a while to get into

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

The fourth album. If you're a band, it's always going to be dangerous territory. You've had three albums before and chances are your sound is well established and successful. Thing is, by the fourth album it's going to need a makeover otherwise people will get bored. However, this in turn causes more problems - if you create new sound, people might not like it, whether it just doesn't appeal to them outright or because it wasn't what they were expecting. Equally, you won't gain new fans who like similar things to your new sound, because you'll be remembered for your old one and they won't give you a try. So as you can imagine, I approached Lullabies to Paralyze with a degree of caution.

There's been a slight change in line-up from the QOTSA of old. We say goodbye to Nick Oliveri (previous bassist), which I think is sad, because I loved him both in Queens and The Dwarves. We also lose Dave Grohl from the drums, but he was only ever a temporary stand-in anyway. There aren't specifically any direct replacements, but instead the lineup of the band seems to be pretty fluid, with huge numbers of people performing cameos on various tracks and band members switching instruments. For example; Josh Homme takes on Vocals, Lead Guitar, Drums, Bass, Rythmn Guitar and Percussion at various pioints throughout the album.

So the sound. Yes, it is different, only a little bit in places, but very much so in others. If you're a big fan of Songs for the Deaf, you'll probably be turned off by this album straight away. If, however, you've been with the Queens from day one and are familiar with the first album - QOTSA, you'll see some similarities and are more likely to get on with the new tracks. The big stoner/grunge chords are largely gone and replaced by stong lead guitar lines. The volume level has also been dramatically reduced, with a dramatic reduction in white noise scenarios and a more intensive focus on melodic progression. Homme's days in Kyuss now become apparent with a heavier concentration on high power bass lines, which I think is a welcome development. There's a difference in the drum lines, whether it's less consistent or more varied I still can't decide, but it is a good thing. No longer will you be battered by beats all the way through and this serves to make the points when the drums do come to the fore all the more impressive.

"This Lullaby" opens the album in a somewhat bizarre style, with guest vocals from Mark Lanegan. More of a sung skit than anything else, Lanegan pretty much solos with slight guitar melodies and whispers supplied by Homme as background.

The second track on the album is "Medication" and this instantly sounds more like the QOTSA we're all familiar with, the chord patterns and sequences being more like those off the first album. Here we have Troy van Leeuwen on bass, Homme on guitar and vocals and Joey Castillo on the drums. It's a fairly straight forward what-you-hear-is-what-you-get type song with little embellishment. If you pay attention, there is a little guitar solo run over the top of the standard song part way through, but it's pretty innocuous.

"Everybody Knows That You Are Insane" is (despite what I feel is a weak title) the first real masterpiece on the album. Homme keeps the vocals, but hands the guitar line over to van Leeuwen, who is replaced on the bass by Alain Johannes. Castillo makes no changes to his role. The track takes a while to get going, starting with a thin melody with lots of note bending and Homme joining in around thirty seconds in. Give it a whole minute and on come the driving background chords and a wailing chorus that is truly inspired. The rest of the song folows the same pattern, but with a higher tempo and more powerful guitars. There is a bridge variation two thirds of the way through and I can only think to explain how this sounds by melting of the music slowly down to a monotone repetition before moving back into the typical song structure.

"Tangled Up In Plaid" is the fourth song on the album and takes the already established differences in the QOTSA sound even further. This, I think, is the first time we hear a piano in a serious Queens song (with the possible exception of the Mosquito Song from Songs for the Deaf). Starting with a marching sound and "plinky" piano chords over the top, the song then quickly progresses to a bouncy chord progression from the guitar which you'll most likely find yourself nodding your head to. The lyrics here are the outstanding part - whilst filled with a lot of "Oh Yeah" and the likes, the verses contain some simply inspired lines. The chorus is enjoyable, if not up to the standard of the previous song, and the sequences in the music are often reversed for a single bar to help keep your attention. A winding guitar solo in the middle makes no improvement to the quality of the track, but doesn't detract from it either.

We then move onto "Burn The Witch". This one has more guest people than I could write here without sending you all to sleep and holds a very similar lineup to Tangled Up In Plaid, but with Homme taking over on the bass. This is what I call "empty" music, with a relatively large number of small silences to help emphasise the sound that you do get. There's a lot of backing vocals and a very repetitious guitar and bass line running predominantly underneath the main vocals. Lanegan reall adds something to this song, harmonising with Homme on every other line and giving the tune much more depth. I hope I don't give the impression that it's actually a bad song when I say that it's the worst of the album so far, because the standard has been very high. It will probably take you a few listens to get into this track.

If you've liked what you've heard thus far, "In My Head" is simply going to blow your mind. This speaks of pure inspiration, combinging the lead and bass to make a harmony while dropping through the scale. The undercurrent of the verses is reminiscent of the desert rock of old, but manages to pull itself up to a more energetic level for the chorus. The vocals are floating, lilting smothered in the foreground until they're blasted apart by an anthemic guitar lead just after the mid point. When the main song returns there are more backing vocals and generally a huge amount more depth and a greater sound quality to the song. Another solo and a drop out by most of the components of the music lead the song to an understated, but highly dramatic close.

"Little Sister" continues in a similar vein. It's less effective, but the quality of the previous track was always going to be difficult to follow. The bass figures heavily in this song alongside specialist percussion, which introduces a nice variation in the progression of the album. As a result of it being similar, I have little to say about it, because everything has been said in the previous paragraph. The occasional guitar riffs that ring out above everything else are impressive though, and worth listening out for.

The sound that the album has thus far generated begins to disappear with "I Never Came", which adopts a much quieter and melodic approach. This is the first attempt that QOTSA make at this type of sound (to my knowledge anyway). They do a good job, generating a track that is a song just for singing's sake and is quietly enjoyable.

"Someone's In The Wolf" is a throwback to the earlier style, with a slightly Foo Fighters-esque sound to it until the vocals come in. The aforementioned are laden with echo effects that serves to detract from the accompaniment, which is actually very good. The biggest thing that this song lacks is the excitement of the chorus, you miss a big build up and instead get something that is very understated. The track is also dragged out too long for my liking, letting the high tempo, high presure mood of the album fade away and only making a half-hearted attempt at reinstalling with a fast paced section at the end.

"The Blood Is Love" starts in much the same vein as Someone's In The Wolf left off. It suffers from the same problems as well, although the accompanying line is a lot more repetitious. Another difference is that the chorus is pretty much non-existant.

The eleventh track is "Skin On Skin" and due to the fact that it's a bit of a non-entity, I have little to comment on other than it's similar to the previous two.

"Broken Box" is an improvement on the three earlier songs. It doesn't have the lyrical acrobatics like the first installments on the album and it's not quite the same serious song as you would have expected in that group. However, it is easy to listen to with driven, but not overpowering, guitar riffs.

"You Got A Killer Scene There, Man..." is a little like I Never Came in that it doesn't hold the up-tempo aspect and is generally a much lighter, more chilled out song. It has a pretty cool guitar solo around half way through, but this isn't allowed to dominate the music. The thing that is best about this track is its placement with respect to the order of the album. It sort of lets you down slowly out of the album and speaks volumes about the thought that has gone into the construction of the album.

The title of "The Long Slow Goodbye" suggests something and your impression of what the track will sound like should be fairly accurate. I'm pretty sure this is the first appearance of an accoustic guitar as the leading sound in any of the tracks on this album. This is slowly replaced as the song progresses with ever more distorted sounds. Homme sings a more melodic line than has been typical of earlier tracks and from a musicians point of view, there's some clever stuff in here, with distinct harmonies from some of the instruments and a muffling of the drums to create a softer "round" sound. After a small section of silence at the end of the song, there's a section of what I'm pretty sure is a modified version of the "Mosquito Song" from Songs For The Deaf.

Finally, we get to the first of the bonus tracks - "Like A Drug". Initially, this sounds a bit more like it belongs on a Buena Vista Social Club album, or a high-brow London bistro. It doesn't change as you progress, but you will come to realise that it actually fits, this is what You got A Killer Scene There, Man... and Long Slow Goodbye have been bringing you towards. This is never going to be a song that you love in its own right, but in the context of the rest of the album, it works well.

The second bonus track is "Precious And Grace", which seems to be a bit of an encore for the usual QOTSA sound, a little like a "Thank you and good night" type track. There aren't any details of the line-up for this track, but it sounds like Lanegan is back on the vocals, which is fitting seeing as he was on the first track too. There's a great bit around a third of the way through where you just get a clean pounding guitar sound before the main solo of the track, which is long and hugely enjoyable. The album ends on an all important high note.

So should you buy Lullabies to Paralyse? Well it's clear that Queens Of The Stone Age aren't the first band to be immune to the problems of continuing after the second or third album. In fact, Lullabies highlights these difficulties perfectly. However, the criticism has to be taken on face value and nothing more. Don't take too much notice of my criticism of some of the last half of the album, it is justified, but the drop in quality doesn't have a huge impact on the overall quality of the album. For those first eight tracks, the listening is sheer bliss. And a lot of albums are only eight tracks long anyway, so you get eight average tracks for free! It will probably take you a while to get into this album, it is a developing sound and as such you'll need to listen to it three or four times through before it catches you and you're singing along.