If everything you knew about Queens of the Stone Age was based off nothing more than listening to their breakthrough album, 2002's Songs For The Deaf, you'd think that Lullabies To Paralyze would be a direct continuation from SFTD - since Lullabies takes its title directly from a lyric near the end of that record. Truth be told however, Lullabies couldn't be more different when you look at all the line-up changes that have transpired since the Songs For The Deaf fallout. Original bassist Nick Oliveri has been fired for partying too hard, Foo Fighters main man Dave Grohl opted out from behind the drum kit this time around, and except for the haunting opening track "This Lullaby," and a few backing vocals, touring vocalist Mark Lanegan is mostly absent on this opus.

That leaves singer/guitarist Josh Homme to pick up the ball, and unfortunately for Homme, Lullabies feels like an album by an artist who is stuck in neutral and barely managing to tread water. Second track, "Medication," is seemingly nothing more than a parody of Rated R's "Feel Good Hit Of The Summer," and "In My Head," which was already featured on Homme's side project Desert Sessions 9 & 10 album, sounds no different here, and simply feels like a rehash of old material.

To be fair, Homme isn't entirely alone in the blame department. Touring Queens members Troy Van Leeuwen (ex guitarist for Failure, A Perfect Circle) and Joey Castillo (ex drummer for Danzig) have been brought on board to try and help, but it's quite obvious after a few listens that these stop-gap guys aren't up to the challenge. Van Leeuwen can scarcely match the ferocious intensity that Oliveri brought to past Queens records, and the same holds true where Castillo is concerned - then again I feel sorry for anyone trying to replace Dave Grohl behind the kit.

As you may well guess by my rating, not everything on Lullabies is a complete washout. Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top makes a great cameo on the groovy "Burn The Witch." The placid "I Never Came," and the seven-minute pulse-pounder "Someone's In The Wolf" also fall on the plus side of the ledger. More often than not, unfortunately, the listener is subjected to a spate of tunes that never seem to gel "tempo wise" (e.g. "Everybody Knows That You Are Insane"). Even more disheartening are the tunes that swing for the fence, but barely manage a routine fly ball (e.g. the annoying cow-bell laden first single "Little Sister.")

There's been fairly recent reports that Oliveri may be on his way back into the Royal ranks - as long as he cleans up his act. Let's hope so because with Lullabies, Homme has obviously bitten off more than he can chew and could use some sharper teeth on the team. Here's hoping that the next Queens' sessions will overcome their present paralysis - I'm confident that the legions of Queens fans (as well as Desert Sessions loyalists) will let lullaby-gones be bygones. Count me among them.