After a whopping 18 year hiatus, the more than legendary Kyuss are back. Let’s not get bogged down in the boring legal details but they are now known as Vista Chino and the album is delicately entitled Peace. Line-up wise they contain original members John Garcia and Brant Bjork along with Nick Oliveri who was involved in the Blues for the Red Sky album (who has left again since) and brand new member Bruno Fevery on guitar. I was massively into Kyuss as a teenager even though I discovered them after they broke up. They were my pathway into the stoner rock scene and I haven’t looked back since. I’ve been praying they would do something again since the late 90s so this release is a huge deal for me, as I’m sure it for anyone who still has an interest in stoner rock in 2013.
Before we get into it, let’s get rid of the elephant in the room. We’d all love to see Josh Homme play guitar on this album (no matter what you think of him these days), after all it was his distinct guitar tones and song writing which went a long way in defining the Kyuss sound. This is never going to happen though so it’s probably best to get over it. The good news is the Kyuss touch, including the guitar tone is still there. It feels just like a Kyuss album. ‘Dargona Dragona’, which is the first proper song has a thunderous little riff and combined with John’s dynamic vocals sounding as good as ever, it becomes very obvious very soon that they mean business. Bruno treats us to wonderful little pockets of lead and quirky riffs which is delightful and the rhythm section on fire, making us bob our heads the way any Kyuss album would.
However, as we move on through the album it becomes clear that this might be a problem rather than a good thing. You start to get the distinct impression they put all their focus into making an old school Kyuss album rather than anything which is going to break any boundaries in 2013. It’s good stoner rock but is that really enough these days to hold our attention and blow the competition away? Not really when you consider the stoner rock bands who are taking it to the next level these days. The track ‘Planets 1 & 2’ sounds more like ‘Green Machine’ than ‘Green Machine’, as soon as the song goes full flow you just want to sing out “I’ve got a wheel inside my head”.
Another element that’s lacking and what I used to love about Kyuss is the humour element. Remember that outro to ‘Supa Scooper and the Mighty Scoop’ which went on far too long? The insane samples which were littered across their albums? The silly song titles and lyrics? I’m guessing these dried up along with the heavy drug taking, another element which defined Kyuss.
I don’t dislike this album in any way, I just suspect they may not have the fire in their belly that they had decades ago when they were kids playing generator parties in the middle of the desert. Sadly the lyrics throughout are pretty generic stoner rock at times and can be pretty uninspired. As we all know, they are absolutely amazing musicians and there are wonderful intricate little patches on this album which take you back to the 90s, but is that enough?
Saying all this the absolute shining light on this album is the final song ‘Acidize the Gambling Moose’ which is 13 minutes of sheer awesomeness. It starts off rather soothing and mellow before flying into a breath taking bluesy jam which takes the Kyuss sound we all know and love to the next level. A glorious way of finishing this album and I really hope there’s more where that came from. This is a solid enough album which shows a lot of promise and I hope they stick around and break boundaries like they did decades ago… after all, we all know they certainly have it in them.
