Queens Of The Stone Age find inspiration hard to locate

It had to happen - the running away of an ego. Josh Homme’s one… The critics have been bigging him up too much that turned ‘Songs For The Deaf’ into their mainstream-conquering disc and although Queens Of The Stone Age displayed a promise it hardly ever got fulfilled on any of the previous albums… The first signs of downfall were spotted when bassie and co-founder [with penchant for encore-nudity] Nick Oliveri got ejected from the line-up.

Surrounded by counter balance in the ranks, Josh’s taken the boss-reigns in his hands and the trouble is that rock band is a collective effort. ‘Lullabies To Paralyze’ is a solo record with backing musicians and because of it - far from good. At times so outta-there jammeroonies as on Homme’s ‘Desert Sessions’… Well, even one track, ‘In My Head’, started life as a workout on that ‘alternative’ project…

There are also a tad too many friendly stars, from Garbage’s Shirley Manson and Brody Dalle [The Distillers front woman is, of course, Josh’s bed-sharer] to Billy Gibbons [of ZZ Top] to Chris Goss [of The Masters Of Reality mike duty]… There is also an appearance by Mark Lanegan who left QotSA approximately the same time Oliveri was kicked out. Strange this, very strange…

It may well be that the main problem is Homme’s loving his music so much he spreads his creativity too thin [including drumming with The Eagles Of Death Metal, quite diabolical - not his skin-work but the band]. ‘Lullabies to Paralyze’ sounds like the members had fun making it that didn’t translate into enjoyment listening should provide. The lead single ‘Little Sister’ simply fails to ignite, presenting them in a merely lost, unfocused, overlong pieces without much oomph. Truly near boring.

Tough decisions would have to be made before the next set of songs is due to be delivered. Right now, with seven-minute stoner epic [‘Someone’s In The Wolf’] it is hard to see them satisfying many of the ½ million who bought their third album that Dave Grohl’s power drumming propelled.

Could already be too late for QotSA?

6/10