Some More Unida...

Here's a few tracks from Unida's only full length album, "Coping With the Urban Coyote". It's been long out of print, and is nigh impossible to find, except at a very high price. I would kill to have this album (not literally)....I wish it would come back in print. Heavy stuff, just as heavy as Kyuss. As I said earlier, Unida is John Garcia's most intense, full throttle, sun baked work since Kyuss split. The production is not as strong as you would expect from Kyuss, but after all it's hard to top the production work of Chris Goss. Garcia is also coming more and more into his own sound here, drifting somewhat from the trademark Kyuss sound. After Undia split, he really came into his own with Hermano. Unida is still impressive indeed...brain damaging molten metal. Give these two tracks a listen..."Nervous" and "Human Tornado".

MASTERS OF REALITY

The Masters of Reality are a formidable, retro psychedelic rock band fronted by Chris Goss. He is probably best known for his glossy yet fiery and extremely heavy production work for stoner/desert metal legends Kyuss and Queens of the Stone Age. Chris Goss' vocal work is impressive. It is very smooth and reminiscent of Eric Clapton's vocals with Cream. Master of Reality's sound is melodic, psychedelic blues rock with some tinges of metal. Their music exhudes a hazy and smoke filled 1970's gloss. My two favorite albums of theirs are their debut album "Masters of Reality" (1988) and their 1992 follow up "Sunrise of the Sufferbus". The first has a more straight ahead rock feel at times, while the second is more subdued and melodic, but nonetheless potent. Both are highly recommended.

Here's 'Domino" from their self titled first album...


...and "Tilt-a-Whirl" from "Sunrise on the Sufferbus".

LEAF HOUND

Leaf Hound were a classic, bluesy psych metal band that released one album in 1970 called "Growers of Mushroom". Let me start off by saying that Leaf Hound's works are very expensive and only available as imports. I do not own any of their material, but have heard plenty of it on the web. Their first album reminds me a lot of Led Zeppelin, but with a looser, more garage psych feel with some healthy undertones of Black Sabbath. This was their only release until they reformed in 2006 and released a brand new album titled "Unleashed". Judging from what I have heard so far, this is a masterpiece of stoner metal. It reminds me just as much of modern heavy stoner adrenaline fueled acts such as Kyuss and Orange Goblin as it does early Zeppelin, Sabbath, and Cream. Smoothe, heavy, cool yet burning riffs with excellent melodic vocals a la Eric Clapton of Cream and Chris Goss of Masters of Reality. I really encourage you to check these guys out. One of these days I'm going to have to break down and fork out the big bucks for their music.

Here's "Stagnant Pool" from "Growers of Mushroom".


To listen to songs from from their new album "Unleashed", click here. Check out "105 Degrees" and "Breakout". Incredible, massive, classic psych metal. Great stuff.

KYUSS: WELCOME TO SKY VALLEY

Kyuss. If there is ever such thing as a quintessential, all encompassing stoner metal band, this would be it. They are driven by their influences from the past: Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Trouble, And Saint Vitus. What makes them unique is the ever present desert sun that permeates their sound and a strong penchant for biker metal a la Motorhead. They combine all of these influences into a sound that is all theirs and has fueled tons of imitators throughout the years. If there is such a thing as no holds barred, balls to the wall, acid burned, hippie biker metal, Kyuss is it. Kyuss came out with their first album in 1991. They released four albums throughout their career, and split apart in 1995.

Their hands down best effort of the four is "Welcome to Sky Valley"(1994). All of their releases are formidable, but this one is their best in my opinion. The teamwork, musicianship, and songwriting here are at their peak. John Garcia's gravelly yet melodic vocals are in top, ferocious form here, and guitarist Josh Homme's guitar work is outstanding, with his exotic tunings and mind-blowingly heavy guitar playing driving every track. Add to it one of a kind, trippy yet heavy drumming of Brant Bjork, the solid, melodic, fuzzed out bass-playing of Nick Oliveri, and the high gloss yet so heavy and bottom ended that your ears bleed production of Chris Goss(of The Masters of Reality) and you have the best stoner metal album ever made.

The album is actually only three tracks, with three songs making up the first two tracks and four making up the last one. The songs bleed seamlessly into each other. The only break you get is after one entire song cycle has completed. "Welcome to Sky Valley" is relentless and beautiful at the same time. There is a strong balance between melody and heaviness here, with nice spacey improv sections rising from the dust that remind me of the trippy sun and acid drenched jazz fusion of the 1970's classic Miles Davis album "Agharta". The lyrics, or what you can make of them, are incredible. They don't make too much sense, nor are they supposed to. "Welcome to Sky Valley" is best appreciated listened to all the way through with no interruptions, and on some really good speakers or headphones. You must kick back and soak the whole thing in...then you will be hooked. I cannot recommend this album enough.

I saw Kyuss live at a little club called The Midnight Sun in downtown Jackson, MS in 1994 when this album came out. Five dollars to get in. They put on a killer show. They had a gigantic incense burner and smoke machine going with Egyptian music playing in the background before they came on...the tiny, cramped place was filled with smoke and trippy lighting then Kyuss came forth and melted my brain and damaged my hearing for days...what a show! These guys were rigged for larger venues but they played the smaller clubs like The Midnight Sun as well with equal intensity. The heaviest live performance I've seen in a small club ever.

After Kyuss' breakup, gutiarist Josh Homme went on to form Queens of the Stone Age, drummer Brant Bjork joined retro stoner rockers Fu Manchu, and vocalist John Garcia formed Slo Burn, Unida, and Hermano. All of which you should check into as well.

Here's "Demon Cleaner" from "Welcome to Sky Valley". I know I've posted this one before, but not in the context of a review. Beside, it's the only video they made from this CD.


And here's the synapse-melting "Gardenia", the opening song from the album.

Gardenia - Kyuss