Choice Cuts : Kyuss - Welcome To Sky Valley

Kyuss line – up for this recording was :

Josh Homme | Guitars

John Garcia | Vocals

Bass | Scott Reeder

Drums | Brant Bjork

Review :

Kyuss’ Welcome to Sky Valley was the eye opening album that introduced me to stoner rock, and as such, will always hold a special place in my heart, although many favour its predecessor, Blues for the Red Sun. The album simultaneously demonstrates both of the aspects of stoner rock that I love, with oppressively crushing, fuzzy, riffs like opener Gardenia’s ferocious introduction, featuring an inherent heaviness I have found nowhere else in metal music, balanced and offset perfectly with moments of psychedelic tranquillity, like the eerily slow and beautiful build-up of Space Cadet. For me, the album title was a literal ‘Welcome…’ to a new world of trippy, psychedelic heaviness, and I found the catchy riffs quickly becoming deeply ingrained in my mind, as well as creeping almost unconsciously into my guitar playing and becoming a huge influence for my own band, Overlord.

Although Welcome to Sky Valley was released in 1994, when the stoner rock movement was already well underway, its profound influence on the genre can still be heard in many of its most definitive records of the later 1990s, from Fu Manchu, to Monster Magnet, to Orange Goblin. Songs like ‘Demon Cleaner’ also provide glimpses of the more commercial, radio friendly direction that Josh Homme would take after the 1995 Kyuss breakup with Queens of the Stone Age, arguably the most prominent champions of stoner rock today.

Words and recommendation by : Tal Fineman

Album Details :

Welcome to Sky Valley is the third studio album Kyuss, originally released on June 28, 1994

Welcome to Sky Valley, track listing :

1).Gardenia  6:54

2). Asteroid 4:49

3). Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop 6:04

4). 100°2:29

5). Space Cadet 7:02

6). Demon Cleaner 5:19

7). Odyssey 4:19

8). Conan Troutman 2:12

9). N.O.( Across the River cover) 3:47

10). Whitewater 9:00

The album is arranged in three movements. The first three songs are movement I, the next three are movement II, and the last four are movement III. There is also a short hidden song on track 4.


Some copies of the German pressing came with a live-bonus-CD:


1. Gardenia (6:46)
2. Thumb (4:38)
3. Conan Troutman (2:18)
4. Freedom Run (7:54)