Vista Chino
Peace

The Vista Chino are the remnants of the old Kyuss. They toured under the name Kyuss Lives!, without Josh Homme and Scott Reeder, but after a few years of touring, they decided to change their name and establish a new lineup. Fevery was confirmed on guitar and Oliveri returned on bass after the usual legal troubles. John Garcia and Brant Bjork remained as permanent members. In 2013, the first and, to date, only album with this new lineup, "Peace," was released.

There was nothing new to invent and nothing was invented. The album sounds like Kyuss used to sound, though some psychedelic impulses are missing in exchange for more circular and "solid" constructions. The 8 tracks on the work, with the exception of the intro and the brief instrumental insert "Mas Vino", all move with the same characteristics: abrasive guitar, a voice from Garcia that scratches less than in the past, and the usual desert sand. Fevery doesn't seem to possess Homme's inventiveness and, in fact, the album suffers from fairly anonymous instrumental parts, like in "Dargona Dragona" which results in nothing. The vocal lines, however, are more appealing, as in "Sweet Remain", simple and direct, and in "As you Wish", tracks that don't invent anything but seem to come straight out of the early '90s stoner era.

"Peace" is an album of manner where the stench of things already heard is present and floats insistently. How not to hear echoes of "Green Machine" in the first minutes of the final suite "Acidize...the Gambling Moose". In the folds flowing from Fevery's guitar, the references to the Kyuss that were are countless. Inevitably, "Peace" ends up being a derivative CD that recycles sounds and themes, without it being disposable: the softer lines of "Adara" make it one of the best tracks of the batch, while "Planets 1 & 2" (again "Green Machine"...) features Bjork's voice, and the result is more acid-oriented and decidedly successful.

The only murmur signed "Vista Chino" is an album that tells us nothing about the future of stoner and not even about the future of this lineup. Four years later, there is no news of new releases, and "Peace" remains an isolated episode to date. Garcia tries to keep the memory of Kyuss alive, and these parallel formations, as much as they declare themselves "independent," never manage to evolve towards a more personal approach to a genre that is disappearing. Reasons that make this album a brief pastime for enthusiasts. Much love for the genre and several banalities.