Millionaire, Paradisiac

Paradisiac is the debut album from Millionaire and within the first 2 bars of music it's quite obvious that the producer is a big fan of (or, the lead singer of) Queens of the Stone Age. Yes, folks, Josh Homme produced this record and while he's left his stamp all over the place, this is not a negative in the least. This record is a stomping slice of stoner metal, full of fuzzy guitars and harmonic vocals and so layered full of feedback and noise that there is hardly a single milisecond of space anywhere in case your ears needed a bit of breathing room to take it all in. Listening to it, I could picture the crowd at a Millionaire gig, pogoing in unison without any control over their reflex reaction to the catchy tunes.

Full of classy metal titles such as "Alpha Male" and "Love is a Sickness," the lyric sheets are really the only downfall on this CD as they are hardly what could be construed as Pulitzer Prize quality poetry, but the posturing is perfect for what it is and what it should be, as a slice of suitably overwrought metal. Rock like this is meant to be daft and immediate and would not really be served by lyrics which required the listener to stop jumping and start thinking. The most perfect moment on the album, however, is the opening few bars and first verse of "Rise and Fall" which fleetingly made me think of Sonic Youth.