Often considered Kyuss‘s best album, and I’m on that side. I said before on my Blues for the Red Sun review that while the psychedelic meanderings of the album were very charming, there were times when they tested my patience and the album could often lose focus and the momentum it had going.

Welcome to Sky Valley is a very focused album that knows when and where to properly split up the hard rock and the psychedelic tinges and how to combine them most effectively. The song structures are much tighter and the riffing as ripping as ever with bass and percussion that together give the album unmatched horsepower. This is no better demonstrated than the unusually short song “100°”, which I’ll add is my favorite Kyuss song ever. Advice: Never listen to “100°” while driving or I guarantee you’ll end up speeding and killing someone or yourself.

Again, Welcome to Sky Valley is also helped by the fact Kyuss get their hazy stoner psychedelia vibes out in their own songs (“Space Cadet”) instead of having them interrupt the hard rock songs while they were in the middle of building strength like on Blues for the Red Sun. Welcome to Sky Valley is a milestone album that ushered in the next generation of hard rock, and it remains Kyuss’s most consistent and powerful album to this day. Albums this buff don’t show age.