Blues For The Red Sun - Kyuss

This could be called the holy bible of stoners everywhere. All bands that today are dubbed stoner rocked ultimately owe their existence to this blissed out hybrid of grunge, metal and psychedelic jamming. As a result it deserves respect not only as superb album, but also as a vastly influential work of art. It’s just a shame that it’s taken the success of Queens of the Stone Age for the vast influence of this band to finally be recognised.
...album, easily outperforming its predecessor, the overly scratchy Wretch. Josh Homme’s guitar sound is truly frightening, distorted to a vast degree and plugged through a bass amp to make it truly bottom heavy. The drumming is excellent, never too fancy but always maintaining an excellent rhythm. The superb bass playing of Nick Olivieri gives the whole thing the massive grooves which drive it along, while the rough but endearing vocals of John ... more

This could be called the holy bible of stoners everywhere. All bands that today are dubbed stoner rocked ultimately owe their existence to this blissed out hybrid of grunge, metal and psychedelic jamming. As a result it deserves respect not only as superb album, but also as a vastly influential work of art. It’s just a shame that it’s taken the success of Queens of the Stone Age for the vast influence of this band to finally be recognised.

This is without a doubt their finest album, easily outperforming its predecessor, the overly scratchy Wretch. Josh Homme’s guitar sound is truly frightening, distorted to a vast degree and plugged through a bass amp to make it truly bottom heavy. The drumming is excellent, never too fancy but always maintaining an excellent rhythm. The superb bass playing of Nick Olivieri gives the whole thing the massive grooves which drive it along, while the rough but endearing vocals of John Garcia provide a somewhat more punky aesthetic to accompany the trippy atmosphere.

Faster rock numbers like thumb and Green Machine combine terrifying amounts of distortion with some brilliantly written meandering solos and excellent harsh vocals from Garcia. Green Machine especially is a guaranteed hit with rock fans the world over, sounding like Nirvana would have if they could play their instruments.

Sinister bendy notes and a slower tempo herald the arrival of Molten Universe, and almost unbearably slow sludge-fest of the kind which now characterises much stoner rock music. The heavy chugging of this track is more sinister and more obviously Black Sabbath influenced than much of the rest of the album. Excellent pot rock instrumental.

50 Million Year Trip, in sharp contrast starts out very fast indeed, with machine gun drumming providing excellent rhythmic support to blistering, chrome coated bike rock guitar riffs. The groove here is irresistible, making this the perfect driving music, and fully justifying the "desert rock" tag. Garcia’s repetitive vocals only add to the hypnotic effect of the track. The more mellow moments are enhanced by jangling acoustic guitars, but the feeling of movement never goes. One of the albums finest moments, this is truly music to hit the highway to.

Students of pop culture may be surprised to see that the next track is Thong Song. No, this is not the Sisqo song, but is in fact a hilarious mickey take of the skateboarding, "surf’s up" stoner culture with which Kyuss were associated. Kyuss were using the "quiet – loud" song structure successfully here a couple of years before Nirvana mastered it. Josh Homme’s understated guitar playing accompanying Garcia’s bluesy howling before exploding into ultra-heaviness for a couple of seconds. A song not so much celebrating as bemoaning Generation X, this is nonetheless a stoner anthem of the very highest calibre.

Apothecaries’ Weight is an altogether more polished affair, a slick instrumental which slowly trundles along, gradually adding in more and more elements as it goes on. From the elegantly picked guitars of the opening, a wonderful walking bass line and simple drum pattern are introduced. The whole track works very organically and unobtrusively. Another great pot smoking, mellow but sludgey tune all round, the kind that Kyuss became famous for. Some may find this a little less immediate and more rambling than some of the songs on this album, but such is the wonderfully shambolic nature of the whole thing that I for one don’t care.

Caterpillar March is another tune that reeks of the influence of the mighty Mary Jane, although the herbal high here has resulted in an altogether more upbeat and groovy tune. Sounding much like an extended jam session, such rock star indulgence is what separates Kyuss from the rest of the grunge pack. Solos arc off and move at funny angles, detaching themselves from the rest of the song, and creating a wonderfully chaotic little soundscape.

The length of Freedom Run gives it time to build up properly. The start sounds like something from an ambient techno album, with the words "freedom run" repeated again and again before the hypnotic bass line kicks in. The guitar is endowed with vast power, partly through the excellent drumming which backs it up, giving the hole track a somewhat pummelling feel, despite it’s lightness when laid in comparison to the rest of the album. Garcia’s vocals are excellent, proving his skill at singing and displaying his talents to the full. His harsh rasping voice is perfect for the jagged nature of the music as a whole.

Short and sweet, 800 could pretty much be called a drum solo, and an intro to Writhe. Writhe is an excellent seventies influenced rock song, clearly showing the influence not only of the mighty Sabbath in its distorted riffing, but of Hawkwind and the Blue Oyster Cult in its pained, dark and sorrowful vocals. Alice in Chains almost certainly took lessons from this, easily the darkest song on the album. Only the typically stoner rock fuzz applied to the guitar tone keeps this from turning into doom metal – God knows, it’s heavy enough.

Capsized is an excellent acoustic guitar solo, very folk influenced and sounding almost Celtic or bluegrass in parts. It’s the intro for the seminal Allen’s Wrench, possibly the best song on this album. Heavy, fast and rocking it gets maximum effect out of Kyuss’ trademark features of heavily distorted guitars, repeated vocal lines, short quiet interludes, break neck drumming and bass grooves so thick you’ll have trouble swimming free.

Mondo Generator is another great rocker, providing a great counter point to the middle of this album which is filled with outsize jams. Garcia’s ecstatic screaming, heavily distorted, sounds very similar to Monster Magnet at times, but there’s no doubting that this is Kyuss. Riffs so heavy they drag you kicking and screaming across the floor, leaving you bruised, battered, and waiting for the quieter interludes which always creep up to give you time to get your breath back. The last two minutes are really excellent, with a heart beat like bass riff crawling along behind sparse guitar chords and ringing cymbals, before kicking right back into a burst of metallic riffing so intense you’ll think your life’s in danger.

The album ends with some guy saying "yeah". That’s the track labelled, big surprise, as "Yeah". But when you think about, the man couldn’t have said it better – what more is there to say. "Yeah, man!"

And that pretty much sums it up. If you’re at all interested in stoner rock or grunge, you need this underground masterpiece – a real gem to be treasured by rockers, freaks, stoners, hippes, grungies and metalheads everywhere.
 

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