This is the third (and best) album by California desert rock combo, Kyuss. If anyone is interested, the name comes from Dungeons and Dragons. The band are best known as being Josh Homme’s home before Queens Of The Stone Age took flight. Kyuss were the purveyors of the finest stoner rock, with their roots firmly in the early seventies – naming Sabbath as a big influence. Produced by Masters of Reality main man ,Chris Goss, this album was the band’s high point creatively.
Gardenia starts things off with the fuzzed out distorted tones of Josh Homme’s guitar. This is the recipe for the whole album. The riffs continue in a repetitive and hypnotic groove that you can chill to, hence the stoner rock term. A lot of the tracks have a grooved out middle section where you can lose yourself. Me personally, I find this album great to relax too. I know that sounds weird when the vibe is so heavy, it just has that effect on me. After the aforementioned Gardenia, the other monster track that I really like is Demon Cleaner, which starts with a great heavy tom tom beat and a wicked riff. This track probably sums up the band more than any other. I find it odd that Josh Homme has said he had never heard of Sabbath when the band started – Sabbath’s influences are all over this record. The band were only around as Kyuss for 4 years, and yet their impact was huge.
8/10 from The Grooveman.
