QOTSA's excellent lullabies won't paralyze

After the last Queens of the Stone Age album "Songs for the Deaf", many people thought it would be hard to follow up with something as good, if not better than that CD. This CD does not dissapoint. Sure, you may be thinking Dave Grohl's absence on this record might hurt the CD but you'd be wrong. You might also think that longtime bassist Nick Oliveri's sudden departure might hurt the record as well....once again, you're wrong....kinda sorta.

The record starts off with a slow intro of sorts. "This Lullaby" is a simple song just under a minute and a half. It sets the mood perfectly for the rest of the CD, it is a slow song but once it's over you get what you're waiting for.

The next track, "Medication" sounds like it could be a single somewhere down the line, but it is a bit too short at only a minute 54 seconds. Most of this song centers around one chord, and while it isn't boring its good that its a short song. It is a blistering fast song almost as catchy as the one after it and compliments the previous song by being almost the exact opposite of it.

"Everybody Knows That You're Insane" begins with an intro of slow slide guitars, which last about a minute. Then the rest of the song kicks in, and you know that this is the album you've been waiting so long for. You're hooked on it after all of 20 seconds and like other songs by these guys it has some insane guitar work.

In all of three songs you know just what to expect here, and you couldn't be happier. A couple tracks later you hear two songs which have already became some of my all time favourites. "In My Head" and "Little Sister", the latter being the first single from this album, and also in my opinion, the perfect song to put out right now. These two songs contrast in the sense that the first sounds a lot more radio friendly, and a little bit less like the QOTSA we all know, and the second is another one of those signature songs that just oozes creativity and is instantly recognizable as the band we're listening to.

"I Never Came" is another song that is a bit slower, but showcases Josh's voice perfectly and is a nice change after the faster "Little Sister"

Following that we have two of the longest songs here, "Someone's in The Wolf" and "The Blood is Love". Both are somewhat repetitive and might not appeal to everyone, however they do their jobs well as they kind of slow down the pace of the CD to set the tone for the rest of the tracks.

Next we have 4 tracks to finish the album off and they are slower compared to the beginning half or so of the CD. But after hearing so many heavy songs they add variety.

This album is put together really really well. There are a few problems with it and those are that the bass does lack Oliveri's special touch, but you do get used it to it after a while. The tracks all flow really well from one to another, but if I were shuffling them around I would put "Everybody Knows That You're Insane" right after "This Lullaby" and put "Medication" right after. When you listen to the CD program it to do so, and you'll hear that "This Lullaby" was almost meant to introduce "Everybody Knows That You're Insane", they flow together like it was meant to be.
There are some guest artists here on a few tracks and they include Shirley Manson, Billy Gibbons, and a couple other not so surprising guests.