CD Review

Break out the wife beater and grab a cold one. Queens of the Stone Age have returned with another pack of their desert stoner peyote boogie go-go rock. Queens ringleader Josh Homme has assembled another motley crew on the band’s latest – Lullabies To Paralyze. This much anticipated and hyped release has spawned high expectations after Songs for The Deaf featuring Dave Grohl on drums brought the band to mainstream success in 2002.

Missing this go-around is Homme’s longtime bassist, the devilish goateed Nick Olivieri, replaced with a couple of other four stringers that fail to capture the familiar Homme/Olivieri energy. Other guests on Lullabies include Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, Garbage's Shirley Manson, the Distillers' Brody Dalle and frequent contributor Mark Lanegan.

Starting with a Lanegan lullaby, the album quickly moves into the beast “Medication” and “Everybody Knows Your Insane.” Along with “In My Head,” these tracks signify what a potent band Queens can be when they play their cards straight, with a fiery chorus and motor breathe orchestration. The stinging guitar lines of the first single “Little Sister” grow on you, but unfortunately, jammed anthems like "Someone's in the Wolf" and "The Blood Is Love" grow tediously tired. “I Never Came” shows the band’s prowess for 90’s alternative power ballads, but Homme is clearly no Scott Weiland. Even the sinister “Burn The Witch” with Gibbons on guitar and vocals never truly catches fire. Lullabies To Paralyze has its moments, but it’s a far cry from the Queens of The Stone Age glory of days past.