Stoner Rock milestone (Blues For The Red Sun - Kyuss)

Member Name: monkeyboy2

Product:	Blues For The Red Sun - Kyuss
Date:	23/07/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Uniquely groovy metal

Disadvantages: May be a bit heavy for some

Released in 1993 by Californian stoner rock pioneers Kyuss, this album is a groundbreaking piece of heavy music. It weaves different aspects of heavy metal, rock and blues together into a new, dirty kind of fusion that has so far stood the test of time. Josh Homme was the brains and soul of this band and he went on to found the much more pop-oriented and popular Queens of the Stone Age, and was joined in that band by the bassist from this album, Nick Oliveri.

The music itself is very heavy and very rhythmic, with the rhythm section of excellent drummer Brant Bjork and bassist Oliveri being the most apparent and perhaps most important aspect of "the sound", as the majority of the album chugs along at a medium/fast pace with groovy bass being driven by pounding drums. Over this we have the relentlessly-awesome downtuned riffs and weaving lead of guitarist Josh Homme, who is the master of this sort of thing, switching between melodious twiddling and heavy rhythmic riffs with ease. There's not very much in the way of vocals on a lot of the songs, with a fair few instrumental tracks and we sometimes go for some minutes with not even a "yeah", but when there is we have the treat of John Garcia's unique, laidback, soft vocals sliding about just over the music, like he's singing just behind your ear. His lyrics are often impenetrably weird, which is fitting.

Despite the fact that you need to listen to this album all the way through and take it as a whole, I'll try and take you through it track by track.

The album opens with a hum of a gentle swelling of a feedback tone, that builds into a the inevitable break and chugging riffage of a song called Thumb that is maintained pretty much throughout the rest of the album from then on. It's a good opener, if unremarkable.

Next is Green Machine, which sounds like a better-produced outtake from Kyuss' poor first album, or a typical mid-era Metallica song. Great riff though.

Next, Molten Universe, which lulls you in with a gentle intro before launching into a teeth-shatteringly heavy, slow groove and building to a faster-paced, thrashing metal groove. Great song.

Next, 50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up) feels chirpy and light in comparison and lifts the album, this song goes through movements rather than verse/chorus, getting pretty heavy again at times.

Following this, we have Thong Song, which you'll either love or hate, most probably hate, due to the harsh vocals and stuttery stop/start first half of the song before it breaks. It feels like a comedy interlude ("my hair is... real loooong! No brains... all brawwwwwn" etc) and either ruins or helpfully breaks up the groove of the album so far, depending on your view. When it finally breaks it is undeniably awesome though.

Next is Apothecaries Weight, which is really chilled out (relatively) and feels extremely "Hey, I'm stoned and I'm Californian". But in a good way. It's an instrumental and has a heavy chorus and gets progressively heavier and faster.

Caterpillar March is next and it's another groovy instrumental. There's a pattern emerging here.

Freedom Run is the standout track on the album and one of their more famous songs overall. The intro is very, very trippy, even when sober and it breaks into a groovy bassline that will rumble your speakers (having your stereo bass setting at 11 is crucial for Kyuss) and the excellent, catchy guitars will have most people's head nodding, despite themselves. Try to resist the air guitar, if you can. Garcia's vocals are really good on this song, almost at his best, as on the next album, Welcome to Sky Valley. Fantastic song.

While it's not the case that it's all downhill from here, that was probably the highlight of the album for me. However, the next track is called 800 and the drums are absolutely incredible, definitely very tribal, like a simpler Danny Carey from Tool. This track is essentially nothing but the intro for the following song Writhe, which is extremely heavy and cool, with trippy vocals and lead.

Capsized is a short flamenco influenced light guitar interlude.

Allen's Wrench is back to more of the same, and not of the highest quality but does the job. You may have a headache by this point, if not, wait for the next track.

Mondo Generator is written by the talentless goon Nick Oliveri (bass) and it's really horrible. The vocals, by Oliveri are massively distorted and like screams. It's very much the darkest point of the album, and it goes on and on, with a circular riff going round and round. It's awesome, with one riff particularly good.

It's a shame to end it like that but that's how it ends. Other than a 3-second track called Yeah, which consists of nothing more than what is obviously a studio outtake of John Garcia saying "yeah". It's like the full stop at the end of a novel.

So there you have it. A very, very good album that I'm still listening to after 15 years. If you like heavy music, buy it on the cheap and you (probably) won't be disappointed.

If you only buy one Kyuss album, though, make it Welcome to Sky Valley.

Summary: Not quite a masterpiece