Spoken of in hushed, reverential tones by an entire generation of aspiring guitarslingers, QOTSA are modern-day six-string gods, utterly fluent in post-Zep/Hendrix metal, and heavily informed by a certain strain of early-‘90s stoner rock (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains) though without the glum, humourless self-absorption that made most of the latter ilk such a charmless proposition.
The Queens specialise in a curious, faintly Gothic form of operatic swamp-metal : multiple overlocking guitars rock without mercy behind Josh Homme’s basement-voiced caterwauling, often seguing off into several-minute solos. Though the band’s instrumental fluency is technically dazzling, they actually understand when to put a sock in it, never descending into self-indulgent voyages of superfluous masturbatory widdle (a constant hazard with bands of a guitar-worshipping tendency). This provides massive relief for the ordinary mortal, for whom an extended muso jam is generally as appealing as open-heart surgery on acid.
If the serviceable lyrics are a mild letdown, rarely rising above sub-Marilyn Manson chunks of goth cliché (‘Will I burn in Hell? and cast it in the well/The mob it cries for blood…Until the fire dies’), the guitar frenzy never lets up for a second. Dave Grohl was so blown away by their walls of noise he joined the band for their last outing Songs for the Deaf, and while he’s disappeared without trace this time out, there’s another sympathetic alliance on the opening ‘This Lullaby’ with Mark Lanegan lending vintage single-malt vocals, though the song itself is a lacklustre, forgettable episode.
There’s no arguing that greater lyrical invention would make the Queens a more enticing prospect, but they rock it out like few bands alive, never more arrestingly than on the largely one-chord drone ‘Medication’. The single ‘Little Sister’, on the other hand, sounds like the hit of the Foo Fighters’ dreams. Not a record likely to send the Queens stratospherically huge overnight, but a belated and substantial fix for their legions of fans, Lullabies To Paralyse is the nearest thing to a classic they’ve come up with yet.