Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 31 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 31
  2. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. They are so good, so natural on Lullabies to Paralyze that it's easy to forget that they just lost Oliveri, but that just makes Homme's triumph here all the more remarkable.
  2. Alternative Press
    100
    The Queens have officially given us the first legitimate Album Of The Year candidate for 2005. [May 2005, p.130]
  3. The 2005 version of QOTSA finds the band more relaxed and loose than it has ever been on record.
  4. Lullabies to Paralyze loses points for a handful of uninspired tracks and questionable production values, but I can’t imagine anybody who’s enjoyed the Queens in the past not taking to at least half of the songs on this album.
  5. For the most part, "Lullabies To Paralyze" keeps up the high musical standard set by its predecessors.
  6. Lullabies to Paralyze explodes with tight, meaty riffs, enormous pop melodies and vocals that seem to come from outer space.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    The macho posturing can get obnoxious.... That said, anyone looking for a band that can mix and match metal, blues, thrash, punk, psychedelia, and grunge as the mood suits will be floored by Lullabies. [25 Mar 2005, p.70]
  8. Filter
    84
    Taken on its own, any one of these songs is pretty good--and some are really good--but Lullabies to Paralyze is held prostrate by an overall lack of variety not made up for by kitsch or vigor. [#14, p.94]
  9. Los Angeles Times
    100
    This is metal that swings, heavy with a deft touch. [24 Apr 2005]
  10. Where Songs for the Deaf found the perfect middle ground between aggressive rocking licks and experimental flourishes, Lullabies falls to the experimental side.
  11. Mojo
    80
    This is not a Big Rock Record. Instead it's intimate, multi-layered and uplifting. [Apr 2005, p.86]
  12. New Musical Express (NME)
    80
    Where 'Songs For The Deaf' was about jumping up and down until your eardrums burst, 'Lullabies To Paralyze' will use its enigmatic mysticism to lull you into a blissful daze so you don't at first notice that the riffs have broken your neck. [12 Mar 2005, p.55]
  13. Lullabies occasionally evokes early Black Sabbath and nods to a few psych-rock stalwarts but, like most Queens' records, it's oddly unclassifiable. It's also troublingly inconsistent.
  14. What's great about this album is they've managed to wield the same monolithic power riffs but make them count, with melodies and ideas way more consistent than before.
  15. Q Magazine
    80
    Precise, tough, tuneful, ambitious and sexy as hell. [Apr 2005, p.112]
  16. It's the magnetic push and pull of its different sonic layers and shifting moods that really defines the record (for better and worse), and rewards repeated listens.
  17. Spin
    75
    An eclectic, rippin' record whose only shortcoming is its commitment to artistic quality. [Apr 2005, p.99]
  18. If this is what treading water sounds like, I'll take it.
  19. Homme has emerged with the best songs of his career.
  20. Lullabies is one of the strongest albums of 2005 thus far, from beginning to end.
  21. Uncut
    80
    Effectively embracing the entire history of the band's sound, the album sprawls over an hour, and has so many peaks and valleys it's practically topographical. [Apr 2005, p.98]
  22. Under The Radar
    80
    At times, the songs get bogged down in too much heavy instrumentation, but they are always saved by [Homme's] soothing, drawling vocals. [#9]
  23. They still cuss (in case you for-fucking-got), and they still gab about drinking and screwing and dabbing their noses in the c-c-c-c-c-cocaine, so all's good in that regard.
User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 187 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 1 out of 187
  1. VladaJ
    Aug 15, 2007
    10
    for me this is best album ever,best album of 2007, although i spent lot of time listening to it end i'm finding that this album for me this is best album ever,best album of 2007, although i spent lot of time listening to it end i'm finding that this album can't be likeable at first,and you realy must like QOTSA...so if someone say that he realy listens them and say that he don't like that album,then i can understand... QOTSA FAN Full Review »
  2. Dec 27, 2018
    8
    Album en el cual se destacan varias canciones que fueron exitos comerciales de la banda, lo cual no debe tomarse como algo malo pues esteAlbum en el cual se destacan varias canciones que fueron exitos comerciales de la banda, lo cual no debe tomarse como algo malo pues este album es el responsable de que himnos como burn the witch , my head, medication entre otros, sean coreados por todos en los conciertos de esta grna banda, un infantable en la discografia de los queens of the stone age sin duda. Full Review »
  3. Dec 10, 2014
    4
    My first impressions of this album comprised mainly of disappointment. Having revisited it several times, I'm still left disappointed but tendMy first impressions of this album comprised mainly of disappointment. Having revisited it several times, I'm still left disappointed but tend to force myself to see the positives as well. After opening their career with a trilogy of outstanding albums where they redefined hard rock, this 4th effort from QOTSA is relatively mild and watered down. Things open nicely with a trio of strong tracks, the acoustic "This Lullaby" followed by the blistering "Medication" and then lead single "Everybody Knows That Your Insane". From this point on the only real burst of energy we get is on "Little Sister". The rest of the album lacks pace and energy and is generally quite a dull affair, something I never thought I could say about a QOTSA album. "Lullabies" represents a mis-step in an otherwise brilliant career. It's not that its really bad, they just play it so safe and fail to show any bravery in their approach to the material. Almost as if they had blown all their rock energy when making Songs for the Deaf and "Rated R". Full Review »