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Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze

Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 February 2005

CANNED HEAT without the weight problem, ZZ Top without the tacky '80s gloss, Nirvana if Nevermind hadn't grown so big it blocked the road to the place their debut album Bleach seemed to be taking them... the blueprint for Queens of the Stone Age's gleeful sludge-rock could have come from pretty much any point in the past 35 years. But rather than capturing them in some timeless amber, this band's immunity from the constraints of musical fashion sets them free to strike at will at the listener's most vulnerable nerve centres.

Total word count of piece: 468

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