Stoned Jesus – Songs To Sun
Season of Mist – 2025
Rock, Prog, Stoner, Metal
Rated: *****
I don’t do this often, but this time around I was reading through the promo email as I heard the first tones of the New Dawn track caress my inner ears. My eyes stumbled and I almost spit my coffee out when I read the lines: “The album is the first in a trilogy that will span the different phases of Stoned Jesus.” Holy hell! Holy Jesus! We’re getting three Stoned Jesus albums in quick succession! My mind then drifted back to the one that came before, called Father Light.
And I remembered that this also was supposed to be a diptych with Mother Dark being the other panel to that album. But relocation from war torn Ukraine and founding man Igor Sydorenko forging ahead with two new members in the Stoned Jesus team turned that other album into a relic of different times and something painful. And with Father Light shining with hope, that feeling, felt more important to grasp on to and bring out into the open. At least that is my interpretation.
For Songs To Sun is definitely that. An open album, full of open compositions that seems to glow with sweet sorrow and hope against better judgment. The drizzling tones that permeate third track Lost In The Rain slowly turning to a sanctified staircase to take the rain back up again perhaps being the best example for this. But there is heaviness and thunder and a booming groove. Following Low for instance is all that. Perfect contrast to that glow, Low offers a descent and a perfect contrast to the light that came with Lost In The Rain. Contrast, something Stoned Jesus always have been masters of, but with Songs To Sun and their ever more progressive future, it has become their calling card. Low turning a momentary black metal corner within its progressive structure is a scintillating underlining of that statement.
And you’ve heard the Shadowland single. Which delivers on contrast, light and dark. It hands out its progressive stoner, the heavy groove and catchy vocal work with such careless ease that it makes the entire track sound simple. But its composition, the builds, the bridge, the doom toned touches is anything but simple. Turning the intense into something so enchanting takes skill. The same can be said for the closing track Quicksand. Built around a simple riff, rhythm and bass pace, to which it all keeps returning, it’s the lyrics that inevitably pull you in and along. And in all its emotion and atmosphere it becomes the darkest song on the album, hinting at the depression that might have been the foundation for the track and the album that is slanted to be next in the trilogy. It’s a track that offers no escape and drags you down with it. And you will let it, and by screaming along with the words, it will turn into a cathartic experience, offering you respite from becoming what you hate the most…
(Written by JK)
You can listen to the first two singles now and be ready for the full album on September 19th!
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