(((O))) Review: Valley of the Sun – The Blacklight Sessions

For 16 years, Cincinnati-based power trio Valley of the Sun has been bringing the heavy fire, unleashing enough firepower to shake the foundations of their hometown and beyond. Blending metallic textures, crushing riffs, infectious grooves, hard rock, and elements of grunge into their music, the band have established themselves as one of the more formidable names in modern heavy rock.

Since forming in 2010, they’ve built an impressive catalog of studio albums, beginning with Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk in 2014, followed by Volume Rock (2016), Old Gods (2019), The Chariot (2022), and Quintessence (2024). Not to mention their earlier EP, The Sayings of the Seers (2011).

Now, with their sixth studio album, The Blacklight Sessions, released through Heavy Psych Sounds, the trio are ready to unleash another round of sonic destruction. This is a mixture of bluesy jams, fuzzed-out desert-rock riffs, and enough heavy grooves to make you want to crack open a six-pack of Budweiser and watch these three musicians deliver the metallic forces waiting to burst through the gates.

Listening to The Blacklight Sessions makes you feel as if you’re right there in the recording studio, watching the band crank up the amplifiers and deliver everything a power trio should be: loud, raw, unapologetic, and absolutely relentless.

There are elements throughout the album that bring to mind not only Hendrix and Cream, but also the mighty forces of Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad, and Sir Lord Baltimore. Then there are those lesser-known, unearthed gems from the swirling Vertigo Records era, including May Blitz and Clear Blue Sky.

You can practically hear the motorcycle engines revving up as Valley of the Sun hit the open road, riding straight into the desert highway with the kind of freewheeling, psychedelic energy that recalls Norway’s own Motorpsycho. That connection becomes especially apparent with the maximum cowbell arrangement and driving force behind ‘Low Not Slow’.

The album also possesses a space-rock quality that the trio capture beautifully, making everything fast, heavy, and right in your face. Prepare yourself for a journey into a doomed, post-apocalyptic blues wasteland with ‘The Long Song’.

There’s a certain atmosphere here that brings to mind Violent Femmes’ ‘Color Me Once’ from The Crow soundtrack. It’s a somber, ominous, and downright disturbing musical landscape, almost as if you’re wandering through the deserted streets of a futuristic Detroit after the world has fallen apart.

Once they get down to business, all bets are off. You can almost imagine the trio tipping their hats to Black Sabbath and their hometown of Birmingham, England, while injecting a fiery dose of psychedelic heaviness that occasionally recalls Black Mountain’s In the Future era.

There’s a doomy atmosphere lurking beneath the surface, especially when you consider the contrast between the opening track, ‘The Whiskey Elf’, and the moody, grunge-inflected arrangements of ‘A Greater Meaning’. You can practically picture these songs blasting through the speakers while a massive bar fight breaks out around you. It’s heavier, nastier, riff-pounding, headbanging madness that knows absolutely no limits!

That’s how Valley of the Sun get things done, done, done!

Listening to ‘Mountain’, I feel as if the band are taking pages from the Berlin School of psychedelic experimentation, with echoes of Ash Ra Tempel, the Yeti period of Amon Düül II, and even Acid Mothers Temple making their way into the mix. But don’t get too comfortable, because the trio eventually take things into a heavier, more cosmic awakening.

The guitars seem to reach another dimension, sending you on a mind-bending journey that brings to mind the stargate sequence from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s an expansive, psychedelic experience that feels as though it has a soundtrack of its own.

The Blacklight Sessions is definitely worth checking out if you like your hard-rock coffee brewed strong, your riffs served medium-rare, and your musical experience seasoned with a generous helping of hot-and-spicy wasabi. This is the kind of album that leaves you wanting another round, another drink, and another spin of the record.

Valley of the Sun has delivered a powerful, in-your-face collection of bluesy heaviness, psychedelic excursions, desert-rock grooves, and fuzz-drenched riffs. These three musicians know exactly how to turn up the heat, and The Blacklight Sessions proves that the fire is still burning brighter than ever.