Welcome to Sky Valley

Performer: Kyuss
Engineer: Joe Barresi
Producer: Chris Goss; Kyuss
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Kyuss: John Garcia (vocals); Josh Homme (guitar); Scott Reeder (bass, background vocals); Brant Bjork (drums). Additional personnel: Mario Lalli (guitar); Peter Moffet (percussion). Recorded at Sound City, Van Nuys, California. After creating a classic with their second album, Blues for the Red Sun, desert metal gods Kyuss faced the unenviable task of delivering the goods once again for a new label, Elektra Records. And they almost pulled it off with 1994's stellar Welcome to Sky Valley. The album's 13 songs are divided into three "suites" which fully display the band's impressive creative range, from furious metal to psychedelic grooves, and anything in between. The first and most consistent of these suites starts with the huge guitar riff of "Gardenia" (which resembles molten lava flowing down the side of a volcano), continues into the moody space jam instrumental "Asteroid," and culminates in the strangely titled yet superbly diverse "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop." Other highlights include the solid thrashing of "100 Degrees," the prog rock instrumental "Whitewater," and the rather mellow (by Kyuss standards) "Demon Cleaner." But no song exemplifies the Kyuss sound as well as the aptly titled "Odyssey," which opens suite number three and provides a veritable blueprint of the band's unique combination of ingredients. The track begins with a cryptic melody, explodes into a ferocious riff, glides into a psychedelic bridge, then returns to full-throttle for its conclusion. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

Instrumental figures in the Southern California desert rock scene, Kyuss are notable not only for helping to lay the blueprint for what would later be known as stoner rock--playing a slightly funkier, more traditionally psychedelic version of the style--but also as the band that would spawn both Queens of the Stone Age and the Eagles of Death Metal. Founding members of the aforementioned bands, Nick Oliveri and Josh Homme, spent their formative years in Kyuss, as did drummer Brant Bjork, making Kyuss one of the most important hard-rock bands of the 1990s.

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