2 keepers
keeper avg .181
Based on my recollections of Lullabies to Paralyze I wasn't expecting great things; I got what I expected, but also more surprises than I anticipated. The album starts with "Turnin' on the Screw"****, a catchy rocker with dissonant late-Zeppelin riffs (interesting that it came 2 years before Them Crooked Vultures). "I'm Designer" tries for a similar vibe with less success but some amusing lines about selling out ("You've made me an offer that I can refuse, 'Cause either way I get screwed, Counter proposal: I go home and jerk off"). The light-hearted and easy-grooving "Make It wit Chu"****, whose writing credits include Alain Johannes and Dean Ween, is surprisingly jaunty, with Josh Homme covering multiple piano parts. But the low-key "Into the Hollow" and "Suture Up Your Future" and the faster "3's & 7's" are nothing new; and the monotonous "Misfit Love" is low on ideas except for the clanging "counterpoint" guitar by Alain Johannes.
Industrial, mechanical, repetitive force has been a part of Homme's sonic wheelhouse at least since Rated R, but it drives a surprisingly large portion of this album. The album's first single, "Sick, Sick, Sick," is the closest of these to a traditional rock track; it's monotonous but at least it hauls ass. "River in the Road" is a thumping mess though Homme's organ part gives it a dream-like quality. And the goofy "Battery Acid" sounds like insectoid aliens with toy guns. Especially the last two feel alien enough to qualify as experimental though taken collectively they seem to bog the album down with noise. With any musicality obscured by angry percussion, "Run, Pig, Run" is the album's noisiest and most divisive track (in this case meaning I hate it and I love it); including several contributions from Alain Johannes (acoustic guitar, "cig" fiddle, marxaphone, and backing vocals), jarring "pings" probably on "badly tuned piano" (by Homme), whistles, and woo-hoo-hoo's, it's celebratory and terrifying at the same time. If you're somewhere unfamiliar and "Run, Pig, Run" starts playing, you might want to head for the exit tout de suite. Regardless, it's a great way to end what may be QOTSA's most inventive if not one of their best albums.
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