Posted in Whathaveyou on October 10th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Hard not to get excited at the prospect of covering Freak Valley again next year. I’ve been four times now, and at the risk of honesty, I’ll tell you it’s beginning to feel a bit like a home away therefrom. A first lineup announcement for 2026 brings Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Kylesa, Tranquonauts (that’s Seedy Jeezus with Tony Reed and Isaiah Mitchell), Stoned Jesus, Coltaine, Håndgemeng, The Neptune Power Federation, Ratsalad and BB Blackdog, and if that’s not enough to get you to mark your calendar, it probably should be. If nothing else, Freak Valley has become a regular quick-sellout, so if you’re hemming and hawing, probably best you don’t.
They’ve got local ticket sales starting this weekend and online sales to follow. I could sit here and recommend the experience (which I do, heartily), but if you want to check out the coverage of this year’s Freak Valley, that’s here as well. The following was posted on socials just a bit ago:
FREAK VALLEY FESTIVAL 2026 – FIRST BAND ANNOUNCEMENT!
It’s that time again, Freaks – the first wave of bands for @freakvalleyfestival 2026 is here, and it’s already looking massive!
Leading the charge:
@uncleacidband – the masters of vintage doom and twisted psychedelia are finally coming to Freak Valley! Expect pure darkness, fuzzed-out riffs, and that unmistakable cult vibe.
@kylesa_band – sludge, groove, and heavy energy straight from Savannah! Their return to the stage is something we’ve all been waiting for.
Tranqonauts – a true supergroup featuring @tony_reed2112 , @isaiahmitchellsounds (@earthlessrips ), and members of @seedyjeezus ! You know what that means: cosmic jams, heavy riffs, and deep space energy.
Also joining the Freak Valley family in 2026: @stonedjesusband , @theneptunepowerfederation , @coltaine , @handgemeng , @we_are_ratsalad & BB Blackdog!
Get ready for another wild ride through the worlds of heavy psych, stoner, doom, and everything in between. 🤘
🎟️ TICKET INFO:
This Sunday at the @vortex_surfer_musikclub in Siegen, everyone attending the @fomiesband show can buy up to 2 Freak Valley 2026 tickets before the online sale starts! So if you’ve got a ticket for Sunday, you’ve got early access – no waiting, no stress. 🤝🏻
Posted in Reviews on September 22nd, 2025 by JJ Koczan
There is greater instrumental and emotional intelligence in Stoned Jesus‘ work than I’ve ever seen them given credit for. And they are not a band particularly wanting for plaudits. Part of it’s the name, right? I know. Sometimes a band has a name, and then sometimes maybe that name over time represents a little less what they do than where they came from. Stoned Jesus hit on a landmark over a decade ago with their second album, 2012’s Seven Thunders Roar (review here), and thanks in no small part to millions of views (16 mil and counting) for “I’m the Mountain” from that record, they were able to become spearheads for a new generation of heavy rockers finding new bands in a new way. You’d keep the name too.
That was a while ago now, as noted, but Stoned Jesus have never stopped walking the path they were on, and to the eternal credit of founding guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist and lead songwriter Igor Sydorenko, they’ve never capitulated creative drive to suit audience expectation. They’ve never stopped growing, and while there’s no question their sixth full-length, Songs to Sun, is not the album they planned on making coming off of 2023’s Season of Mist label-debut, Father Light (review here), the circumstances of the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine forced Sydorenko to leave his home country, resettle the band in Germany, and reform the lineup with bassist/backing vocalist Andrew Rodin and drummer/backing vocalist Yurii Ciel both making their first studio across these six songs and 41 minutes.
Father Light was initially to have been complemented by a sequel, Mother Dark. As I understood it, Mother Dark was recorded but shelved amid everything else. It now becomes lore — the lost Stoned Jesus LP — which is kind of fun, but it’s hard to imagine that if it’s actually done and sitting there, it won’t surface at some point in the future. Still, Songs to Sun, which the band will reportedly follow with Songs to Moon sometime in 2026 and Songs to Earth sometime in 2027, begins a different trilogy cycle, also somewhat positioned around notions of light and dark in addition to the various other themes that emerge in the first installment, whether that’s touring in opener “New Dawn” and the penultimate “See You on the Road” or cuts like “Shadowland,” “Low” “Lost in the Rain” and closer “Quicksand,” which foster a more personal, internally-focused point of view while pushing Stoned Jesus to new places musically. And if you might say, “wait, that’s all the songs,” yup, you’ve got the idea.
Because while Songs to Sun echoes Father Light in a kind of titular luminosity heralding contrast to come, the two albums are divergent enough in their intent to give the impression of the band having actually redirected from one project to another. Some of that comes from the unrepentant metallurgy happening in the two shortest inclusions here, which are “Shadowland” and “Low,” both around four minutes long. After “New Dawn” lays out its welcome/wakeup and showcases both the tones to please old and new fans and the first of the vocal showcases Sydorenko will put on throughout — his vocal range has never been more apparent or confident; he sounds like the professional frontman he’s become over time, and shreds on guitar besides — taking its time across in the build of its almost-nine minutes but never losing direction thanks in part to the grounding effect of its memorable chorus, going big at the outset, “Shadowland” represents an immediate departure.
Crashing in on a lumbering swing, the band reveal a thick and nigh-on-funky start-stop verse procession in “Shadowland,” more immediate than the opener but still tempered in pace. The real turn happens with the chorus, which pays off the tension of all that bounce with a melodic, full-sounding push that reminds most of all of something Katatonia might proffer. It’s a different take than I’ve ever heard from Stoned Jesus, but as with everything else on Songs to Sun, there’s no new ground they touch that is beyond their reach. The vocal layering and flourish of keys are prescient, and if you wanted to stretch a bit, you could say the production gave hints of the metal to come in the payoff of “New Dawn,” but really, the build in “Shadowland” is its own thing, and serves well as an example of Stoned Jesus‘ willfully progressive songcraft. They never drop the melody, and they give a noisy impression without being out of control, Sydorenko positioned at the center of the storm. His vocals become an element tying the songs together.
Not the only one, however. Songs to Sun is sequenced such that, on the vinyl, there are three songs per side. Digitally or on CD, it works out that the tracklisting trades off between four longer and shorter pieces before flipping that so that “See You on the Road” (5:45) leads into the definitely-the-closer “Quicksand,” also the longest of the bunch at just under 10 minutes. The malleability isn’t a coincidence; it comes from the songs themselves trying and executing new ideas, so that even as “Lost in the Rain” sets up a melancholy mirror with “Quicksand” in closing side A — the acoustic guitar and mellotron of the earlier cut becomes part of a long intro and a mellower, mostly-instrumental progressive-style flow, classy in how it brings in tonal weight and moves through its plotted solo into the fade, feeling like a meander but again, never without direction — it isn’t quite as hypnotic as the repetitive structure of the finale, but communes in a somewhat likeminded atmosphere. This dynamic, of the songs speaking to and about each other, bolstering each other to make the whole offering stronger and more complete, finds a certain kind of pinnacle in “Low.”
Namely the metal kind. If “Shadowland” demonstrated that the Sydorenko/Rodin/Ciel incarnation of Stoned Jesus — which, just to emphasize, is a different band than that which put out Father Light only two years ago — had an underlying current of intensity, “Low” is where that comes forward. The side B opener sets out with a cymbal count-in and a speedy galloping omegakyuss riff that’s likewise brash and catchy, but it’s after two minutes in, when they shift from the somewhat twisting rhythm to a straight-ahead all-out blastbeaten black metal pummel — topped with a throaty high register scream, no less — that Stoned Jesus show just how far into extremity they’re willing to push to get a point across. That turn momentarily upends the song, but they bring it back to finish, the drums every bit showing the resonance of their Karl Daniel Lidén mix/master (recording was by Ignancy Gruzecki in Poland; Sydorenko is listed as producer) on the way to the sudden-sweep of an ending. It sounds like they’ll have fun playing it live.
Which perhaps is part of why “Low” rests so easily next to “See You on the Road” despite the latter’s more definitively heavy rock chug. With an epic-style hum-topped crescendo stretch in its second half, “See You on the Road” carries is-hot-shit-and-knows-it swagger and, while retaining the threat that at any minute they might again break out into blastbeats, they set up a grungier melody in the vocals ahead of the chorus setting up both its own hook and that of the breakdown riff that follows. Introduced by double-kick drumming, that stretch in “See You on the Road” deserves to be played on every European festival stage for the next year, and it would seem to have been written with that intention in mind as well. With the theatricality of its post-midpoint takeoff, it’s in some ways the culmination of Songs to Sun as a whole, but there’s more than epilogue to “Quicksand” as the trio pull off one last turn and redirect.
As noted, “Quicksand” follows on in part from “Lost in the Rain,” but the arrangement is notably stripped down in comparison. It is acoustic strum and foreboding drums and bass at the start. There’s piano, and the light and dark there (everywhere) becomes backdrop for spoken word from Sydorenko, repeating a litany of “tired of” declarations. Tired of getting screwed over, tired of bombs, you get the idea. The next verse is sung, soulfully, over Ciel‘s tense drumming before the guitar comes back. A build is undertaken and seen to fruition, then dropped. Sydorenko‘s voice, once more centrally positioned in the material, repeats the line, “…To become what you hate the most,” then steps back and the last build announces itself. You know when you’re there. The acoustic guitar stays but they’re metal by the end anyhow. The vocals chant, part of the fray now manic in crash and guitar. It ends when everything leaves and the line turns around to, “to become what I hate the most,” to cap the track and album. Gorgeous.
Ten years and several months ago, a different incarnation of Stoned Jesus announced with 2015’s third album, The Harvest (review here), that not only could they liberate you with a riff, but that they were a more complex and more progressive outfit than anyone expected them to be. They have in the time since refused to dumb-down their creative ambitions and intentions, and Songs to Sun is the latest reward for that refusal. Longtime fans will find it mature in the songwriting but refreshed with the captured performances of a new lineup, and triumphant in the realization of its goals. Stoned Jesus stand among the best European heavy rock bands of their generation, and one only hopes they continue following the path of which this album now forms an integral part.
More to come with Songs to Moon? I guess we’ll find out. But if that record is going to reveal this one as only half the story — and there’s always a risk with staggered LP releases recorded around the same time; I can think of examples of bands ending up with a weaker-seeming second part owing to repeated ideas from the first; I wouldn’t put it past Stoned Jesus to have some trick up their collective sleeve to get around this — there’s nothing here that feels incomplete in the listening as the band draw threads across seemingly disparate elements and emerge from the process with like measures of cohesion, individuality and aural force. Approach with an open mind and discover one of the best albums you’ll hear in 2025.
Hard to argue with “Shadowland” as the first single from the upcoming Stoned Jesus album, Songs to Sun. Set to release on Sept. 19 through Season of Mist as the beginning of a trilogy cycle, the album covers a range of sounds and ideas, but “Shadowland” encapsulates what kind of becomes a theme in the material in its engagement with metal. The lesson here is that the new lineup of Stoned Jesus can hit really hard when they want to. “Shadowland” starts out with a slinger of a riff, ba-dum-dum da-da-dum, and lumbering, but by the end, they’ve sharpened the point and are blasting away with what would be extreme metal purposes if they didn’t stay so loyal to the melody.
This isn’t as deep into aggression as they go, and the story of Songs to Sun is not — I emphasize, not — that Stoned Jesus have gone metal, but it’s a part of the pastiche they offer and “Shadowland” also represents the LP suitably in being catchy as hell, with a chorus that careens in a way that feels like born of Katatonia but is executed with more life, and a build toward the finish that highlights just how tight this band is at this point, as well as Igor Sydorenko‘s charisma as a frontman, which is a whole other plot thread here. His vocals have never sounded more confident or ranged as far as they do on Songs to Sun.
The video for “Shadowland” is on-theme for the song. There are some effects, a chase, and the band in a room with a blank background. It’s pro shop — they’ve got eyeliner, on, so you know they’re for real — and they’ve got tour dates for Europe, Australia and Latin America. If you’re waiting for them to come to the US, I wouldn’t say it couldn’t happen, but if I was in a band called Stoned Jesus and had the prospect of doing a month on the road in a christofascist dictatorship, maybe I’d think long and hard about whether or not to make that trip. I suppose “we’ll see” applies there, and I’ll note the ridiculous cost of US visas being the result of a government that actively doesn’t want you to hear new ideas and grow your brain.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they sneak more Euro shows in before the end of the year, but surely 2026 will see Stoned Jesus thoroughly on the road. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for Freak Valley, as it was such a pleasure to see them last year for the first time when I was in Hungary.
PR wire info follows the video below. Enjoy:
Stoned Jesus, “Shadowland” official video
Stoned Jesus Outrun Demons on Catchy Lead Single “Shadowland”
Returning to Latin America After 8 Years
Touring Europe with Cult of Luna + Australian Debut
Whether climbing to doomy peaks or bouldering through a radio-friendly banger, over the course of the past decade and a half, Stoned Jesus have left a mark on the world of rock as true trailblazers.
This year, following a successful showing at Hellfest and ahead of their long-awaited return to Latin America, Stoned Jesus are embarking on their most expansive journey yet. Songs to Sun is the first in an upcoming trilogy of albums that promises to take these heavy progressive rockers to the dark side of the moon and back. While well-marked by their mind-melting heaviness, the album’s lead single is haunted by shadows of doubt. But on “Shadowland”, frontman Igor Sydorenko and his new mates outrun their demons with fresh twists and the catchiest hooks of their career.
“This song is about finding solid ground amidst the instability of the past few years”, Sydorenko says. “The opening hook screams Alice In Chains, while the pulsating verses evoke Mastodon at their poppiest. And the climax is something else entirely!”
An existential shadow hangs over Songs to Sun. The album reflects on the unstable ground that Sydorenko navigated after the band’s previous lineup dissolved. Like the mysterious figures that creep and crawl around every corner of the video, insecurity looms over “Shadowland”. “Ground under my feet is / Turning to quicksand”, Sydorenko sings right before the compressed bridge cuts out. But even when shrouded by depression, Stoned Jesus are guided by the spirit of innovation. Right as their new lineup comes fully into focus at the end of the video, the song’s closing sprint breaks toward the light with a high-powered fusion of pop melodies and headbanging prog.
“There’s a constant sense of instability that seeps through the lyrics of Songs to Sun”, Sydorenko says, “but experimenting with the music is what helps give our lives a solid foundation”.
The video for “Shadowland” was produced by Pirate Shot (@pirateshotcreation)
Additional video credits Directed and edited by Olivier Terrade Camera work by Olivier Terrade and Onur Cinar Special effects by Nicolas Stenger Actor – Philip P. Coffey
Hear Stoned Jesus perform “Shadowland” and other new songs off Songs to Sun when they return to Latin America this fall following their European summer tour with Cult of Luna and Australian debut.
2025 European Festivals August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival September 13 – Crest, FR @ Bridge To Hell September 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Kristonfest November 8 – Bochum, DE @ Tombstoned Fest November 14 – Magny-Les-Hameaux, FR @ Foud Rock November 15 – Eindhoven, NL @ Helldorado
2025 European Dates with Cult of Luna August 11 – Osnabruck, DE @ Botschaft August 12 – Bremen, DE @ Modernes August 13 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivolivredenburg
2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater October 5 – Adelaide @ The Crown & Anchor
2025 Latin American Tour October 21 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Rock Experience October 22 – Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Gravador October 23 – Florianopolis, Brazil @ Desgosto October 24 – Curitiba, Brazil @ Beveldere October 25 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Jai Club October 26 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Caverna October 28 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Uniclub October 29 – Santiago, Chile @ Club Ambar October 31 – Mexico City @ Sangriento [FIRST-EVER SHOW IN MEXICO]
Lineup: Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 15th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Holy smokes. I got the chance last night to hear Stoned Jesus‘ Songs to Sun for the first time, and it’s staggering. The melodies, the hooks, the progressive side coming together with the sheer joy of a band riding grooves, plus a few grand and/or metallic divergences, big builds, big riffs, big heart. I, accordingly, had big feelings, and ended up taking 472 words of notes on my first listen that I’ll at-some-point-between-now-and-Sept.-19-I-hope expand out into a review. But the record hit me hard, the songs are there, and it’s a next-level, AOTY-contender-type outing from them.
It’s also the first of three LPs to come. True, their last LP, Father Light (review here), was intended as the first part of a two-record cycle, and perhaps Mother Dark will be the great lost Stoned Jesus album that someday founding guitarist Igor Sydorenko will return to, but for now, Songs to Sun sets out with Songs to Moon and Songs to Earth slated for 2026 and 2027, the last of them seeming to be a massive two-tracker different from the others. Given some of what they do across Songs to Sun — the first single isn’t out yet, but there’s an announcement video below where bassist Andrew Rodin is giving (I think; he’s facing the other way) drummer Yurii Ciel a haircut or a shave or somesuch, out in a field, likely on tour, and that has some voice at least. Also the kind of atmosphere and a Tarantino-style font that made me wonder if Ciel was about to get axed. Spoiler, everybody survives the minute-long clip.
And admittedly, that video isn’t much to go on, but it’s what I’ve got for today. Stoned Jesus‘ latest outing otherwise is their earlier-this-year holdover cover of HIM‘s “Buried Alive by Love,” which is under that announcement clip below. Art and info — including copious tour dates on multiple continents of course; they might need a touring keyboardist for this material — came from the PR wire:
STONED JESUS Expand Their Universe on New Album Songs to Sun
Heavy psych road warriors embark on sweeping album trilogy
Touring Europe with Cult of Luna, Debuting in Australia + Returning to Latin America this Fall
Over the course of the past 16 years, Stoned Jesus have risen as true trailblazers. Whether it’s a radio-friendly banger or a 13-minute classic, frontman Igor Sydorenko has explored lush valleys of folk, proggy expanses, bouldering alternative rock and peaks of headbanging doom. Now, after a sneak peak at Hellfest, Sydorenko and his new bandmates are embarking on a three-part quest that will take their heavy progressive rock all the way to the sun, moon and back.
Songs to Sun comes out September 19, 2025 on Season of Mist. The album is the first in a trilogy that will span the different phases of Stoned Jesus. Season of Mist will release the darker Songs to Moon sometime next year, followed by the proggier Songs to Earth.
“We are thrilled to announce the beginning of this expansive journey”, Sydorenko says. “Songs to Sun picks up where Stoned Jesus left off on our previous album Father Light. Along the way, people will hear nods to Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest. But there are also lots of new twists and turns that merge metal’s groove and intensity with vintage prog and our catchiest choruses yet. Lyrically, there’s a constant sense of insecurity and instability, but experimenting with the music is what helps give our lives a solid foundation”.
Hear Stoned Jesus perform new songs off Songs to Sun when they return to Latin America this fall following their European summer tour with Cult of Luna and Australian debut.
2025 European Festivals August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival September 13 – Crest, FR @ Bridge To Hell September 20 – Bilbao, ES @ Kristonfest November 8 – Bochum, DE @ Tombstoned Fest November 14 – Magny-Les-Hameaux, FR @ Foud Rock November 15 – Eindhoven, NL @ Helldorado
2025 European Dates with Cult of Luna August 11 – Osnabruck, DE @ Botschaft August 12 – Bremen, DE @ Modernes August 13 – Utrecht, NL @ Tivolivredenburg
2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater October 5 – Adelaide @ The Crown & Anchor
2025 Latin American Tour October 21 – Rio De Janeiro, Brazil @ Rock Experience October 22 – Porto Alegre, Brazil @ Gravador October 23 – Florianopolis, Brazil @ Desgosto October 24 – Curitiba, Brazil @ Beveldere October 25 – Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Jai Club October 26 – Belo Horizonte, Brazil @ Caverna October 28 – Buenos Aires, Argentina @ Uniclub October 29 – Santiago, Chile @ Club Ambar October 31 – Mexico City @ Sangriento [FIRST-EVER SHOW IN MEXICO]
Tracklist 1. New Dawn (8:53) 2. Shadowland (4:38) 3. Lost in the Rain (7:49) 4. Low (4:09) 5. See You on the Road (5:45) 6. Quicksand (9:52)
Production Credits Produced by Igor Sydorenko Recorded by Ignancy Gruzecki Mixed and Mastered by Karl Daniel Lidén at Studio Tri-Lamb, Sweden
Recording Studio Monochrom Studio in Poland Cover Art Vadym “Karaska” Karasiov
Lineup: Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Esbjerg Fuzztival last week added Dead Meadow as their first night’s headliner. Today brings word of the final lineup addition: Ukrainian progressive heavy rockers Stoned Jesus.
There’s a full set video below of Stoned Jesus in their current incarnation playing a festival in Germany last year, or at least a show outside. I put it there for two reasons. One, there’s a point in the second half where the guy who’s up front filming goes for a beer, and he keeps filming — the essential documentarian. Two, I saw this band, this version of this band, in 2024 (review here). It was my first time seeing them, and it only underscored the impression given by their records, that they are a band who care deeply about their songs, who respect their audience, and who are able to create a sense of presence on stage while remaining humble in it. Good band, in other words. You get some sense of the dynamic in the clip, plus the sound is good. You can really hear him order that beer.
I don’t know the status of such a thing, but I’m expecting a new Stoned Jesus album before the end of the year. Does that mean one will happen? Nope. But I’ve got my hopes up and you know that even while they might go on a tour celebrating their XVth anniversary, they’re even more interested in moving forward as a band. If it’s 2026 before it happens, fine, but it’s still only January. They’re still with Season of Mist for the new one so far as I know.
And the bottom line is they’ll kill it at Esbjerg Fuzztival 2025. I believe this is the last of the announcements for the 2025 lineup, so keep an eye for day splits and, if you can go, have a great time:
ESBJERG FUZZTIVAL 2025 – Stoned Jesus
Here is our last announcement for Fuzztival 2025:
Stoned Jesus will be the perfect way to wrap up Fuzztival as our Saturday headliner!
We hardly have to say much about this band: Ukrainian progressive rock and doom combined, with a sabbath worshipping first album, that we still spin in plenty here, not to mention a second album that has become a legacy in the stoner/doom community with the epic chant I’m The Mountain. This band alone is worth both the ticket price and the trip, so don’t sleep on it: it’s pay-day after all!
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 21st, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I’ve never been a huge fan of HIM‘s records and I’ve never seen the band live, but I do know that Igor Sydorenko of Stoned Jesus is the kind of dude who just might dare to like different kinds of music, let alone different kinds of rock music, so I guess that’s the risk you run for being actually-open-minded (instead of pretend-open-minded, which is what I think most people want to be). Fair enough. Catchy is catchy, songwriting is songwriting, and of course Sydorenko, who’s among the more charismatic of heavy rock frontmen currently working the Euro circuit, can handle the melody.
I don’t know when they recorded it, but the impression I get from the below is it’s the first studio outing from the revamped incarnation of the band, with Andrew Rodin on bass and backing vocals and Yurii Ciel drumming. I was lucky enough to see this incarnation of Stoned Jesus last summer in Budapest (review here) and Europeans will have the chance to catch the band this Spring as they celebrate their 15th — or XVth — anniversary with festivals and club dates ahead of taking off for their first Australian stint this Fall. I could’ve sworn they’d been before. I’ve never been either.
So the cover, the tours, the anniversary, and word of a new album sometime later in 2025 is the deal here. I hope it all pans out without complication. Stoned Jesus are all paid up on dealing with bullshit beyond their control and then some:
STONED JESUS Cover HIM’s “Buried Alive By Love”
Ukrainian psychedelic prog rockers honor kindred spirits with faithful ode to love metal
New album coming in 2025 + return to Hellfest
Having celebrated their 15th anniversary with two reissues last year, Stoned Jesus are turning over a new leaf in 2025. The Ukrainian psychedelic prog rockers are rolling across the European summer festival circuit in heavy anticipation of their upcoming sixth album and first with the band’s new lineup.
To kick off the new year in high gear, Stoned Jesus are honoring their fellow trailblazers HIM with a faithfully heart-pounding ode to love metal.
Listen to Stoned Jesus cover “Buried Alive By Love” on the Season of Mist YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/OHmEGyXHjmM
Though they were already a known force on the international album charts, before “Buried Alive By Love”, HIM were at odds with how they were perceived by the music industry. Igor Sydorenko – the mastermind behind Stoned Jesus – understands the feeling all too well.
“We constantly struggle with the limitations of the genre, having been pigeonholed as a stoner rock band early in our career, so HIM are very relatable to us”, Igor says. “It’s absolutely unfair that such a diverse and interesting band are remembered as this moody, one-dimensional bunch by the general public. I truly consider Ville Vallo one of the most underappreciated rock and metal composers ever. His way of balancing the heavy and dark stuff with the catchiest melodies is very inspiring when I’m busy with my own songwriting”.
With the opening track on 2003’s Love Metal, HIM truly hit upon their signature style. “Buried Alive By Love” shot the album to the top of the Billboard Heatseekers Chart. Now, more than two decades later, the hit single is launching a new era for Stoned Jesus. The band’s new rhythm section add fresh sludge, while Igor’s razor-sharp riff and coolly impassioned pleas match the Finn’s gothic groove drop for bloody drop.
“This is just a phenomenal song”, Igor continues. “Bumping HIM in the van with the new boys on our first tour together sure helped to build and solidify the chemistry that we have now”.
Catch this new era of Stoned Jesus as they relive the band’s greatest hits on their ongoing 15-year anniversary tour. The band are playing shows across Europe with stops at several festivals, including a triumphant return to Hellfest. Later this year, Stoned Jesus are making their long-awaited debut down under with five special anniversary shows in Australia.
Stoned Jesus 2025 XV Anniversary European Tour March 30 – Lediden, NL @ Interstellar Solar Fest May 2-3 – Bologna & Venezia, IT @ Heavy Psych Sounds May 16 – London, UK @ Desert Fest May 17 – Dublin, IE @ Lost Lane May 18 – Belfast, UK @ Voodoo May 21 – Malmö, SE @ Plan B May 22 – Stockholm, SE @ Bar Brooklyn May 24 – Helsinki, FI @ Sonic Rites Festival May 25 – Tallinn, EE @ Kinomaja May 26 – Riga, LV @ Melna Piektdiena May 27 – Vilnius, LT @ Loftas May 28 – Gdansk, PL @ Drizzly Grizzly May 29 – Wroclaw, PL @ Transformator May 30 – Prague, CZ @ Rock Cafe May 31 – Ljubljana, SI @ Menza Pri Koritu June 1 – Zagreb, HR @ Vintage Industrial Bar June 21 – Clisson, FR @ Hellfest June 27 – Oberzenn, DE @ Wasted Openair June 28 – Passau, DE @ Blackdoor Music Fest August 3 – Gyongyos, HU @ Fekete Zaj Festival
Stoned Jesus 2025 XV & Debut Australian Tour September 28 – Perth @ The Rosemount October 1 – Canberra @ The Baso October 2 – Sydney @ The Underground October 3 – Brisbane @ Soapbox Beer October 4 – Melbourne @ The Leadbeater
Line-up: Igor Sydorenko – Lead-Vocals & Guitar Andrew Rodin – Bass & Backing Vocals Yurii Ciel – Drums & Percussion
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 25th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
A strong first impression from Desertfest London 2025 is no big surprise. The UK’s premier heavy festival will feature Elder, as previously noted, as well as Zeal & Ardor, Amenra, Stoned Jesus, The Devil and the Almighty Blues, Planet of Zeus, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Josiah, and others. Note 10,000 Years supporting their new record and first for Ripple. Note Volcanova because they’re a new-ish band on the way up. Note Bobbie Dazzle as Sian Greenaway moves forward from her time with Alunah. Note Sons of Alpha Centauri because they don’t tour a ton. Note Black Willows because they rule, on and on. There’s a lot to be unpacked here even before you get to Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut or Scott Hepple and the Sun Band, but the bottom line is the news is good.
Some of these acts will be shared with Desertfest Berlin and Desertfest Oslo, and I haven’t seen a lineup announcement for either of those yet, but it seems fair to think of it as imminent. In the meantime, Desertfest London 2025 has tickets on sale, should you either want to purchase one or spend the rest of your week until payday fantasizing about doing so and then make the buy. I haven’t been there since 2013 — would go, happily — and still feel comfortable heartily recommending the experience as life-changing for the better.
From the PR wire:
DESERTFEST LONDON ANNOUNCES FIRST WAVE OF BANDS FOR 2025 INCLUDING ZEAL & ARDOR, ELDER, AMENRA AND MORE
Desertfest London have announced the first wave of bands for their 13th edition, which will take place across multiple venues in Camden on Friday 16th – Sunday 28th May 2025. Weekend tickets are available HERE: www.desertfest.co.uk
Swiss avant-garde metallers Zeal & Ardor are confirmed to headline the Roundhouse on Saturday night. Led by Manuel Gagneux, the group will undoubtedly deliver a masterclass in genre-pushing riffery following the release of their highly acclaimed fourth album Grief in August.
Desertfest favourites and psych-rock masters Elder will be headlining Friday night with a special performance celebrating 10 years of their album Lore, which was the band’s third full-length release and a watershed moment in their history cementing the hallmark Elder sound.
Frontman and lead guitarist Nick DiSalvo adds, “Lore is turning 10 years old. This album marked a point of departure for Elder upon a path which the band is still walking now. For us, this is the record where the band came into its own as a unique voice in the heavy rock underground. As we approach our second decade as a band, we feel it’s appropriate to look back on this landmark for us and acknowledge it properly, which is why we’re doing a tour performing the entire album along with some other tracks from our earlier catalogue; we’ll give this era of the band a proper celebration before turning our attention once again toward the future and the next album, currently being written.”
After their crushing performance at Desertfest London in 2019, the boundary defying postmetal titans Amenra will be returning to deliver shared catharsis and indoctrinate more to the Church of Ra with their undeniably powerful and haunting atmospherics.
Currently celebrating their 15th anniversary, the Ukranian trio Stoned Jesus will be bringing their mix of doom, prog and grunge whilst The Devil & The Almighty Blues will be hardhitting heavy- slung blues rock.
With new music on the horizon and known for their thunderous live reputation, Planet Of Zeus will be stirring things up, as will Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol with their selfprofessed brand of Doom-Wop.
Also announced are Josiah, Sons Of Alpha Centauri, Volcanova, Black Willows, 10,000 Years, Scott Hepple & The Sun Band, Barbarian Hermit, Erronaut and Bobbie Dazzle.
Weekend Tickets for the event are on sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk with more bands to still be announced!
FULL LINE-UP SO FAR ZEAL & ARDOR | AMENRA | ELDER |STONED JESUS | THE DEVIL & THE ALMIGHTY BLUES | PLANET OF ZEUS | RICKSHAW BILLIE’S BURGER PATROL | JOSIAH | SONS OF ALPHA CENTAURI | VOLCANOVA | SCOTT HEPPLE & THE SUN BAND | BLACK WILLOWS | 10,000 YEARS | BARBARIAN HERMIT | ERRONAUT | BOBBIE DAZZLE
Posted in Reviews on August 5th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I knew when I saw the dude in the Trouble shirt that I was on the right bus. It wasn’t as hot today, some rain, but still humid enough to sweat on the way to Dürer Kert, which has tables enough outside for probably a couple hundred people, though there weren’t that many about a half-hour before the listed 7PM show time. A couple food trucks around. A bar playing music with a beat, including a lounge-techno version of “Imagine.” A small, now-empty, stage that would be perfect for a DJ. Dürer Kert (the ‘kert’ means ‘garden,’ I think as in beer garden) looked ready for a party. It got one.
I wouldn’t have fretted about arriving early — that’s a total lie; yes I would — but the prompt start the other night made me want to play it safe. That, despite two more bands on the bill as locals Red Swamp — whose metal-tinged soundcheck I heard walking up — and Shapat Terror were opening. On some levels, I guess that’s the difference between a Monday and a Friday night gig. I’m nervous either way. For everything. All the time. Won’t matter when the music starts.
This being my first time seeing Stoned Jesus made it something of an event in my mind. Nothing against Dopelord, just that I’ve watched them play before, though the advent of 2023’s Songs for Satan (review here) put them at another level in my mind. I’ll say I was looking forward to both and mean it for more than diplomacy’s sake, but I’ve enjoyed and written about both for over a decade, and this would be my first live experience with Stoned Jesus. I was nervous for that too, even with a fair amount of night to go before I got there.
Doors were at 7, so that’s when I went in. It was just me in the nagyterem (“big room”) for a while, but they were playing good music and it was cooler than outside and I’m a fucking misanthrope, so I sat on the floor and waited. Green Lung, Dozer, Kyuss, etc. Me and security. I didn’t know there was a photo pit or I’d have tried to get a pass. I messaged Igor from Stoned Jesus, whom I was looking forward to meeting, working under the kind-of-a-bummer assumption that dude had better things to do a couple hours before showtime than get me sorted. So it goes, in my mind. In real life, he came through in like five minutes, I met the promoter and got to take pictures no problem without having to stand in one spot all night and feel like a jerk. That turnaround, that kindness (thank you, Zsanett), kind of made my night.
But there was a show. Here’s how it went:
Red Swamp
Pretty discouraging to have studied the magyarul language for over a year now and barely be able to pick up a word of Red Swamp’s between-song banter apart from “thanks very much” (köszönöm szépen) and other syllables here and there. Long way to go if I actually want to speak it, I guess. Their lyrics were in English to follow suit from their moniker and their style of riff metal more broadly, in which influences from the likes of Lamb of God and Pantera could be heard in addition to the odd metalcore breakdown, vocals capably shifting between cleans and harsher screams/growls. Their opener, “Stoned,” made a hook of a line that was something approximate to “Cuz I’m already stoned,” and that was a bit of charm, and when they hit a slowdown, the Crowbarian nod was there for sure, but their baseline level of aggression would’ve been a surprise if I hadn’t cheated and checked out their newest single “Born to Bleed” this afternoon. They took a photo together on stage when they were done — the last song had the biggest (“a legnagyobb,” which I learned this week) groove of the bunch — and left to the start of “Sweet Leaf” over the P.A. Maybe not my kind of metal all the way, but they were good at what they were doing, having fun and nobody got hurt, so I’m not complaining. The room almost completely cleared when they were done as people went to sit outside with their drinks. I looked up from writing on my phone and there were like six dudes left. Suppose that’s how it’s done at Dürer Kert. I dig it.
Shapat Terror
While both their name and the animated logo on the screen behind them gave a nastier superficial impression, Shapat Terror won me over quickly with their not-emo-but-post-hardcore-rooted melody and noise-rock-but-grown-up sway. Big Soundgarden influence in the vocals, and that’s not a comparison I’m wont to break out unless it’s a compliment. I’d checked them out for a cursory listen before the show too, and I liked that enough to pick up the tape they had at the merch table, but the way the punch of bass from the stage set alongside the major-key reach and the summery groove, well, I wish I’d heard of them before this gig but they’re a band I’m glad to have seen. Nothing too fancy arrangement-wise, but no chestbeating either, and no pretense in a down-to-earth stage presence despite sounding as a group like they probably listen to seven different kinds of punk I’ve never heard of, including whichever kind has chug. Everybody who had gone outside and then some came back in, and by the time they were wrapping up, I legitimately wished they would do a longer set. A couple backing screams near the end were a surprise but not out of place. Good band. Sometimes you luck out.
Dopelord
Their Satanic majesties rolled from start to finish, opening with “The Chosen One” from Songs for Satan, which, yes, has absolutely been playing nonstop in my brain since I found out this show was happening while I was in Hungary. That, “Addicted to Black Magick,” and everything else was a highlight as the Polish four-piece found a consuming level of volume and used it to proliferate a stoner idolatry with a lumber all their own. Great pairing, their being out with Stoned Jesus. Two bands who can break out a massive groove when they need to but have much more to offer than just that, however much the sense of worship — volume, riff, devil, whathaveyou — is central to the character of Dopelord’s music. They played in front of grainy horror footage and the plod was thick until they thrashed out “Headless Decapitator,” which felt like a long way removed from the stage-intro “It Is So Nice to Get Stoned,” but was a hell of a way to spend a couple minutes just the same. Singularly stoned and pummelingly heavy, it was a celebration for the converted, and watching Dopelord, it’s rarely such a raw pleasure to be among that number. They closed with “Reptile Sun” and “Doom Bastards.” Beers were raised. Hoots were hollared. Ar last one couple I saw was making out. Not so much for the latter, though, you know, whatever, but I was really, really glad to have left the apartment to witness Dopelord’s absolutely uncompromising vision of Sabbathian stoner doom, which has only become more their own over time.
Stoned Jesus
I met Igor Sydorenko, Andrew Rodin and Yurii Kononov during Dopelord’s set. The latter two, also brothers, are newcomers in the rhythm section of the band celebrating their 15th — or XVth, as they put it on the poster — anniversary with this tour and their upcoming Fall run. But if you want to know anything about Stoned Jesus, know this: Igor’s no dummy. He’s got a new lineup, but if they weren’t full-baked, or ready, or something was off, they wouldn’t be out on a tour like this at all. Instead, as the band has relocated to Germany as wartime expats following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and are pivoting from the originally intended follow-up to 2023’s Father Light (review here) — that album was slated to be part of a duology with Mother Dark, now shelved as understand it with the band moving forward in the current incarnation and new new material — while also doing catalog reissues through Season of Mist, the band were airtight through material new and old. “Thoughts and Prayers” from the new album was a highlight, and the set brought into focus for me just how much Stoned Jesus like a blues lick, sure, but how they’re able to shift between a mellow boogie and outright crush without making either feel out of place in the song. Igor is a better singer than I’ve ever seen him get credit for, and the band’s emphasis is exactly where they want it to be, where Igor wants it to be. They auctioned off an original vinyl of Seven Thunders Roar to go to their Ukraine fund. It went for 33,000 HUF, which is about US $90. Worth every penny all the more since they went into “I’m the Mountain” after. The classic. It wasn’t the last song they played, but an inevitable crescendo anyhow, and the crowd was right there for it with he band. The nod of “Get What You Deserve” followed, then “Buried Alive by Love” and “Here Come the Robots” for a lively finish.
—
Not gonna lie, by the time Stoned Jesus were done rocking out, I was all rocked out. Out-rocked, even. I leaned on the wall in the back, sore, tired and ready to be done with a day that was going on 19 hours ahead of another early start in the morning. I hobbled my plantar fasciitis self through the parking lot and out to the road to meet up with the taxi I called for in the Bolt app (the last bus back had been at 11:36), my phone at 23 percent battery and my body no less in need of a charge.
The taxi driver, Tamás, was a hero with chill techno and no conversation. I saw him glance in the back seat a couple times, presumably to make sure I was still alive. It had been another night I felt lucky to be so — and here I acknowledge The Patient Mrs., through whom all thigs are possible — and the subsequent crash-out was proportional to the joy of the experience. Thank you, Budapest. I’ll always remember that the first time I saw Stoned Jesus — and I very much hope not the last — it was here.
