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THE REVIEW
This is not a review, it is a fact: Welcome To Sky Valley is one of the best albums ever released. It's not just stoner rock, (actually stoned rock, it fits more), it's not an album that you can simply rate with a five, you can't judge something like this. You have to lounge around and start enjoying all the sounds that will invade your neurons, this album hypnotizes you, "mescalinizes" you, pervades you, it "gets inside you", truly. Such feelings cannot be described, it is beauty filtered for uninitiated ears, "Welcome To Sky Valley" belongs to the "essential" category in music, if someone says that this album is bad, that person is automatically an idiot, even if it's Riccardo Muti.
I won't talk about the songs, there's no need, and I'm not up to it, this is not meant to be a review, I'll just tell you that this is the peak of Mr. Homme and his companions' entire career (including all their post-Kyuss incarnations, such as Qotsa, Hermano and various stuff). Not even that colossal album "Blues for the Red Sun" reaches where "Welcome To Sky Valley" pushes itself (especially since that "Blues..." was recorded like crap), only "Thong Song" is at the level of the acid and hypnotic arpeggios you will find in "Welcome To Sky Valley", the swaying and adrenaline-pumping riffs you will encounter, the suffering, alluring, and lysergic blues.
Some say that cocaine was the main source of inspiration for our desert lords, nonsense, that might make sense when we talk about Mondo Generator, but this album is pure THC and trip, nothing else. This is the album where their tendency to overdo things finds its fullest expression, or rather its fullest "extension," because these are songs that "extend" beyond anything you have ever heard before, writing psychedelic suites is an understatement, it's cerebral music with guts, it's about taking the listener away from everything that surrounds them, without sweetness, pulling them by the hair and taking them elsewhere, forcefully.
I read on this site "stoner is understood stoned," it makes sense, definitely, smoke something rough and abrasive, something that scratches your throat, lie down, and Josh will welcome you to the brightest and most exorbitant sky valley you can conceive.
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Summary by Bot
Welcome To Sky Valley by Kyuss is hailed as one of the greatest albums ever created, transcending typical stoner rock labels. The review emphasizes its hypnotic, intense, and psychedelic nature that fully immerses listeners. It surpasses other works by the band, including Blues for the Red Sun, by offering extended, mind-altering musical experiences fueled by pure THC-inspired creativity. This album stands as a peak achievement in Josh Homme's career and is essential for those seeking music that takes them beyond ordinary boundaries.
Kyuss
Kyuss were an American rock band from the Palm Desert, California scene, widely associated with (and often credited in reviews as inventors of) stoner/desert rock. Their classic run includes Blues for the Red Sun and Welcome to Sky Valley, and members went on to projects such as Queens of the Stone Age.14 Reviews
Other reviews
By Echoes
Reviewing this album is like trying to give an opinion on an emotion.
Welcome to Sky Valley is the synthesis of dreamlike emotions, tinged with the blues.
By rdegioann452
I simply invite anyone who hasn’t done so yet to listen to this album and do the same with the rest of their discography.
'Sky Valley' is the best among their albums, including 'Blues for the Red Sun', simply because you won’t find songs like 'Gardenia', 'Asteroid' and 'Odyssey' in the latter.
