I’ve been waiting a while for this one, and it definitely does not disappoint. In fact, I can safely say that it’s my favorite album of the year so far, in a year with a glorious abundance of great new music for heavy rock fans.
Valley of the Sun somehow flew under my radar until they started consistently popping up in my Spotify daily playlists, causing me to inevitably stop and say “who is this?” until I was hooked. Their last album, Old Gods, is still a regular listen and frankly now ranks as one of my all-time favorite albums.
It’s selling Valley of the Sun a bit short to say they’re like ASG with more toms and less harmonics, but that’s not too far off the mark. IYKYK. One of the most intriguing things about VotS is how they mix it up just enough that at some point, you’ll inevitably check to see if you’re still listening to the same band, let alone the same album. The Chariot is no different. Fans of ASG, Freedom Hawk, and Mothership will dig this future classic.
Standout tracks: Sweet Sands, The Chariot, As We Decay, Sunblind, really the whole damn thing
Find Valley of the Sun on the web:
https://valleyofthesun.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/valleyofthesun
Chances are you haven’t heard of Operator Generator. I hadn’t either until it was recommended in passing recently by a trusted Twitter source, and it’s not available on streaming outside of YouTube. And now that I’ve heard it I need to tell everyone about this lost classic.