Technically the first Kyuss release—same band, different name. They’re already unquestionably stoner rock at this point, though the base in blues rock is more visible here than even on their faster and more aggressive “real” first album, Wretch. And as mediocre as the production was on Wretch, on Sons of Kyuss, even the recording itself is quite bad. It’s not the band’s fault—they simply didn’t have the funds to get anything better—but cracks and hisses are all over the place on Sons of Kyuss.

There are four songs here that weren’t rerecorded for Wretch:

“Window of Souls”
“King”
“Isolation Desolation” (nearly identical to “Isolation” on Wretch)
“Happy Birthday”

All songs will be enjoyable for fans, but this fan can’t call a single one of them essential. The same goes for the album in its entirety: for completionists only.