No height is too steep for STONED JESUS to climb. After 15 years of exploring everything from doom metal and psychedelia to grunge and art rock, the heavy progressive trailblazers hit the road in search of even more expansive creative peaks. With ‘Songs to Sun’, frontman Igor Sydorenko and his bandmates launched their ambitious album trilogy onto best of 2025 lists.
Now, just one year later, they're cycling into their next phase with ‘Songs to Moon’. The ‘Songs to...’ trilogy spans all sides of STONED JESUS. The darker, more introspective ‘Songs to Moon’ opens in the large shadows of its predecessor with “Under the Skin”, a loud and heavy slab of post-metal that plunges the album into darkness like the setting sun.
The existential shroud that hung over ‘Songs to Sun’ continues to weigh on Sydorenko. “Still I’m falling down / From high above”, he sings with cool remove amidst the catchy doomgaze that's expertly weaved into lead single “Velvet”. Mini-prog-opera “Jackal” features the band at their most theatrical. Smack in the middle of the tracklist (and falling precisely halfway through the entire trilogy), the melancholic “Syzgy” configures one melody from each ‘Songs to…’ album into their first-ever instrumental track.
But even on their darkest and moodiest record, STONED JESUS can’t be confined to just one shade of blue. Following in the steps of ‘Led Zeppelin III’, Opeth’s ‘Damnation’ or Alice In Chains’ ‘Jar of Flies’, during its final lap ‘Songs to Moon’ strips down to acoustic guitar and Sydorenko’s hushed vocals. “And when the sun goes down / It brightens up my mood”.
As the dreamy desperation of “Window In My Room” fades beneath the stark reminder of closer “One More Empty Day”, STONED JESUS return to earth weary but wise beyond their years. With ‘Songs to Moon’, STONED JESUS take a giant leap into the darkest, most daring and deeply moving territory of their career.
For fans of OPETH, MASTODON, ALICE IN CHAINS. Artwork by Vadym Karasiov aka Karaska.
