Lullabies To Paralyse- Queens Of The Stone Age
Things haven’t been easy for the Queens of the Stone Age. The road to success has been particularly cruel to the Californian based rock and rollers. The band struggled for over a decade before releasing their first main stream accepted album and then, after releasing the phenomenal "Songs for the Deaf", life got even harder for the rock 4 piece. Singer/Guitarist Mark Lanegan was kicked out of the blossoming band by front man Joshua Homme. Bassist, Nick Oliveri (the bald, bearded, screaming, constantly naked guy) was also fired by Josh, who told him that it was a direct result of his "reckless behaviour" (which in the music biz translates as "GET THE HELL OUT OF MY BAND YOU GODDAMN JUNKIE!"). And from there things just got worse. Drummer Dave Grohl disappeared from the Queen’s list of friends who would work for them. The critics began to write them off, saying that after the string of firings the band was doomed. Their record company threatened to drop them if they didn’t come up with a new album. Bassist Mark got a bad haircut. Singer Josh’s parents forgot his birthday. Guitarist Troy learnt that Santa wasn’t real. Ex-member Nick’s cat died. Yes, things looked bad.
But all that is in the past and QOTSA are back on top! They overcame adversity, struggled up the arduous path to musical inspiration and finally got there, even if it meant jettisoning two members (including my favourite member Nick) to make it. The Queen’s problem strewn path to their new album could be compared to the band walking up a large mountain. Whilst Josh and the other surviving members cautiously crept through the woods that grew on the mountains fertile slopes, they were beset upon by three mysterious professionals, one a bass player, one a guitarist/singer and lastly a lawyer. After killing the lawyer and consuming his sweet, sweet brain, Josh and the other two forest inhabitants bonded. They became the replacements to Oliveri and Lanegan and the rest, as they say, is slander.
The new album is worth the wait. Skip past it’s opening to the excellent "Medication" and realise that Mr. Homme was the leader of the band from the start. The sound hasn’t changed. The raw energy is the same as previous albums, sending a frenzy of charged acid-rock anthems through your wildly reverberating speakers. The eerie droning is still there and lyrically it’s not much different (Oliveri’s screaming of obscenities is still missed though).
After the bass fuelled, gut-wrenching, explosion of "Medication" (which oddly features Mark Lanegan on bass. Although he’s gone he still pops up once or twice. Perhaps a kind of musical departure wave?) "Everybody Knows That You’re Insane" kicks in, with a slow, melodic almost Soundgardenesque opening. However, the frantic drums and chords that rip through the centre of the song destroy all melodic aspects, and once again an up-tempo power anthem, that will have you thrashing your air guitar around your bedroom, is born. All the rest of the albums first half is of the highest quality, the Queens living up to the standards that they had set for themselves with their penultimate album.
But then disaster strikes! If up to half way through the track list is the band pleasantly strolling up the side of the mountain, then after that is the band tumbling hideously and awkwardly down the other side. The album goes downhill and the incline is steep. A mess of songs are left, some more cacophonic and unbearable than others. Luckily the band does, a few times, manage to halt their descent by grabbing a loose tree root, giving a brief respite from the drone of the bewildered guitars and the seemingly independent drumming, but soon after this the tree uproots leaving the band to plummet even more furiously then before. It is then that Oliveri is truly missed. His drug induced lunacy and gimmickry offered a break from Homme’s ultra-cool, focused, drudgery. The word "filler" is only too apt to describe certain songs that infest the album’s second half or "dark side" if you will.
In conclusion, the new Grimm Brother’s fairytales inspired album is not as good as "Songs for the Deaf", but then again few albums are. The album is, like all great albums, one that will grow on you over time, as you begin to realise the detail and work that has gone into it. And it is wise to remember that when an album’s second half is said to be terrible, but still a cut above most others, it is no mean feat. Buy this album if you like Queens of the Stone Age, and if you don’t like ‘em, buy it because you like good rock music.
4/5
- Sean Carroll.
