Review Summary: A psychedelic masterpiece. Definitely Kyuss's masterpiece as well.
Kyuss had just delivered a metal masterpiece with "Blues for the Red Sun". They were signed to Elektra and had just lost bassist Nick Oliveri for Scott Reeder. Their small fanbase was naturally worried about the outcome of Kyuss without Oliveri, but their worries were answered with this beast of an album. Luckily, it sounds like they had no label interference because there are plenty of songs that would never be played on mainstream rock radio. The songs were split into three movements in order to encourage the listener to sit all the way through, which probably helped. The booklet also said to "Listen without distraction". Onto the movements.
The album opens with Movement 1 obviously, which has the killer "Gardenia". The riff is very fuzzed-out and heavy with Garcia singing these aggressive lyrics. The drums and bass are also stellar. Josh goes into an acid-driven solo before they all decide to climax the song and fade it out. After the fade "Asteroid" is next, the only instrumental. This song is really spacy and dynamic. The song's ending jolts a bit, but it was obviously intended. To end the movement comes the catchy "Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop". It is tough to describe this song honestly, but it is just awesome. The ending really made me laugh though because you always expect it to end, but they just keep playing. This movement is the most diverse of them all, but not my favorite.
"100 Degrees" opens the second movement which is a killer fast song. Josh's riff and Brant's drums blend together so well. Lyrically, it is typical rock fashion, sex. After the abrupt ending, "Space Cadet" drifts you into another universe. It is a spacy acoustic song with a really cool bass part. Garcia's vocal performance here is probably one of his all time best as well. After the fading ending stops, "Demon Cleaner" ends the movement. This song reminds me of Aenima-era Tool because of it's drums, bass part, and epic guitar riff. This is another one of John's best vocal performances IMO. At this point of the record, if you have been here from the Gardenia, you are blown away. The first time I heard it I was speechless. To me it is one of the best Kyuss tracks. Movement 2 is my favorite of them all.
"Odyssey" comes first in the 3rd and final movement which is probably the definitive song of the album. It has everything, an awesome clean to fuzzed guitar part throughout, loud and powerful drumming, killer bass playing, and Garcia's yelled vocals. Definitely one of the standout tracks. "Conan Troutman" follows which is a heavy, fast thrasher. This song is pretty short but it works really well for the spot they put it in. Right after is the groovy "N.O". This was a song written by Reeder's former band "Across the River". This has another great riff with a weird tempo change. This song has a cool, loose feel to it. Finally, to conclude the album is the amazing "Whitewater". This is probably the closest Kyuss has come to Prog or acid rock. It is mostly instrumental but when the vocals are in, they have this cool, gliding feel to them. Maybe the epic of the album. In conclusion, this is the heaviest of the movements.
Overall, this is in my opinion the best and most interesting Kyuss release. If you like psychedelic rock, this is the Kyuss album to buy. If you like heavy metal, Blues for the Red Sun would be better for you. Feel free to not like the album, but I love it.
