When your group is basically a duo, can you really fire one guy and still call it a band? A picky question, perhaps. But it's one that certainly comes to mind whilst contemplating the new Queens of the Stone Age disc.

Lullabies to Paralyze is QOTSA's fourth album and, more importantly, the first since control-freak singer-guitarist Josh Homme axed wildman bassist and longtime foil Nick Oliveri, the yin to his yang, the Oscar to his Felix, the Bugs Bunny to his Yosemite Sam. Determined to prove that he doesn't need no stinkin' partner, Homme surrounds himself with the usual crew of cronies and utility players -- Mark Lanegan, Chris Goss, Jesse Hughes, even girlfriend Brody Dalle and ZZ Top lead beard Billy Gibbons -- and proceeds to crank out another batch of the lock-step, pulverizing riff-fests that most folks would call stoner-rock but he calls robo-rock.

Whatever you wanna call it, it's tough to call it a slam-dunk. Even though these 14 cuts are stewn with all the fuzztone power chords, chugging beats, compressed production and detached vocals you expect from QOTSA -- not to mention more bottom end than a hip-hop video -- it's clear something is missing. Actually, make that two things: 1) Oliveri's spry basslines; 2) A sense of fun.

From the downbeat opener This Lullaby to the aptly titled closer Long Slow Goodbye, this hour-long set is mostly a samey, workmanlike slog (three momentum-crushing epics in the second half of the disc don't help). Apart from a few balls-out rockers like Everybody Knows That You Are Insane (apparently a one-fingered wave bye-bye to Nick) and the Foo-style single Little Sister, these Lullabies are more likely to tranquilize than paralyze.

Maybe Homme should have called it something other than a QOTSA album. Or better still, maybe he oughta just call Nick and bury the hatchet.