SemiConscious Dot Org

As we speak, I have in my hot little hands Lullabies To Paralyze, the latest magnum opus from rock and roll gods Queens of the Stone Age. It has been an excruciating two and a half year wait since QOTSA’s last album, Songs For the Deaf, and when I found out that today was the release date, I seriously considered taking the day off from work in order to be at the record store the second it opened.

As it was, today was torture, obsessively watching a clock which never seemed to move. But finally, 4:30pm, release! I’m pretty sure I set a land-speed record during my frantic race from the Central District back home to Ballard. In fact, I don’t think I touched the brake pedal once. I dimly remember the yells of outraged pedestrians as they leaped out of the oncoming path of my wildly careening vehicle, but screw them. As Herr Doktor used to say, their voices are the barking of dumb dogs.

Now, on this general subject, I will fully admit to having no sense of objectivity. I have been a huge fan of singer/guitarist Josh Homme from way back in his days with the mighty Kyuss. I own every release from both Kyuss and QOTSA, as well as the guy’s numerous side projects (Desert Sessions, Eagles of Death Metal, etc.) In short, I think the man is a genius, and I haven’t bought an album by him that I didn’t like.

So how does Lullabies measure up? I’m only on the second listen-through right now, but I can safely say that the misgivings I had last month after hearing “Little Sister,” the first single, were misplaced. That single, possibly the most conventional rock song Homme has ever penned, led me to worry that QOTSA was going in a more commercial direction. Well, no fear there, the band’s trademark weirdness is still in full effect. (One listen to “Someone’s in the Wolf” should be enough to hammer that point home.) While the band is definitely employing more polished production than on their earlier albums, the familiar aspects of the QOTSA sound—pummeling, earthshaking guitar riffs, Homme’s ghostly vocals, odd instrumentation and guitar tunings—are still there.

So far, my favorite tracks are “Tangled Up in Plaid,” “Everybody Knows That You Are Insane,” “Burn The Witch,” and the aforementioned “Wolf.” I’m sure that will change as I listen to the disk multiple times…which I most assuredly will do. Lullabies has already pushed the two cds I had been playing obsessively for the past month (Mars Volta’s Frances The Mute and Trail of Dead’s Worlds Apart ) right the hell out of my car cd player.

Anyway, to sum up: Lullabies To Paralyze is a fantastic new release by the Greatest Rock And Roll Band Currently In Existence. Like every QOTSA album, it rawks to wake the dead. If played loud enough, if will shift tectonic plates. Is it as good as Songs For The Deaf? Hey, let’s not get ahead of ourselves; we are talking about my favorite album of the decade here. I’ll need a lot more time to offer a final opinion on which one is better.

A few thousand more listens should do it.