After 15 years of trailblazing across doom metal, grunge, psychedelic and art rock, no height is too steep a climb for Stoned Jesus. The heavy progressive rockers are reaching a new creative peak with their forthcoming album trilogy. Its opening chapter, Songs to Sun, rose atop best of 2025 lists at Doom Charts, Rock Hard, The Obelisk and other critical institutions. Now, frontman Igor Sydorenko and his two bandmates are cycling into the darkest, most daring and deeply moving territory of their career with Songs to Moon.
“We started The Songs trilogy last year with Songs to Sun, which is a loud and heavy album that’s big on choruses and meaty riffs” Sydorenko says. “While still heavy and catchy, Songs to Moon follows a similar trajectory to Led Zeppelin III, Opeth’s Damnation or Jar of Flies by Alice In Chains. The songs are recognizably Stoned Jesus, but they are bolder, more haunting and introspective than anything we’ve done before”.
Today, Stoned Jesus are announcing Songs to Moon with a ‘90s-style music video for the album’s lead single. While floating endlessly amidst uncertainty, the doomgaze of “Velvet” hits hard with one of the band’s biggest hooks.
“This song answers the question: What if Nirvana was shoegaze?”, Sydorenko teases.
The video for “Velvet” was created by Mykyta Donets.
Songs to Moon comes out October 16, 2026 on Season of Mist.
Pre-order: https://orcd.co/stonedjesussongstomoon
Pre-save on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/prerelease/3eaQK0xSDe91fH92dLiMel
The Songs trilogy spans all phases of Stoned Jesus. Like dusk, Songs to Moon opens in the shadow of Songs to Sun. Previously released single “Under the Skin” plunged the band into a dark night of the soul with loud and heavy slabs of post-metal.
Songs to Moon discovers a more introspective side to Stoned Jesus, “I’ve noticed that in a lot of our songs, the narrator is either falling or starting to lose the ground under their feet”, Sydorenko says. “When writing ‘Velvet’, I asked myself, what’s next? What do I want to find once I reach the bottom? Or do I just want the fall to go on forever”.
Even on their most melancholic album, Stoned Jesus can’t be confined to just one shade of blue. With its grungy riffs and grainy video treatment, “Velvet” would slide into heavy rotation on MTV’s 120 Minutes. “Where will I end up / I never know”, Sydorenko sings with cool remove. As steadily pounding drums, harsh backing vocals from bassist Andrew Rodin and Sydorenko’s howling guitar solo push the song to the brink, it’s loud and clear that the band are only going up from here.
Tracklist
- Under the Skin (5:29) [WATCH]
- Velvet (5:11) [WATCH]
- ZYX (5:30)
- Syzgy (4:50)
- Jackal (6:48)
- Window in My Room (8:22)
- One More Empty Day (4:41)
Catch Stoned Jesus this summer on the European festival circuit.
August 8 – Rome, Italy @ Roma Stone Fest [TICKETS]
August 20 – La Maroutière, France @ V and B Fest [TICKETS]
August 29 – Teramo, Italy @ Suburbiae Festival [TICKETS]
October 30 – Vallet, France @ WeStill Fest [TICKETS]
Since 2009, Stoned Jesus has served as one of Europe’s leading forces in heavy rock. Igor Sydorenko, a fixture of the Ukrainian underground music scene, started it as a solo project after stumbling upon some heavy and angry riffs that would become the song “Occult.” He fed off his Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin influences and was soon turned onto Electric Wizard and Sleep, two bands who mastered the art of bold, lurching heaviness, thus creating a sonic template to abide by.
The Kyiv-based project was initially dubbed “Stoned Jesus from the Outer Space” but this was soon shortened to the much crisper Stoned Jesus. The name was trimmed down out of necessity — Sydorenko wanted to legitimize the band immediately. “I realized that this may cause some problems,” he told Psychedelic Baby in 2010. “Some people wouldn’t take our music seriously, then. I don’t mind jokes and having fun, but music is always the most serious thing for me.”
Two demos ensued before Stoned Jesus’s debut LP, 2010’s First Communion. Recorded with the first line-up in two hours, First Communion was a promising offering that dove headlong into the world of heavy stoner rock, with three songs going over the 10-minute mark for hypnotic effect. The album eventually saw a proper reissue in 2020, introducing it to a new group of fans. The first change of rhythm section brought Seven Thunders Roar in 2012, which included “I’m the Mountain,” a 13-minute epic that has since become a live staple. The album also introduced a bevy of acoustic guitar and softer vocal approaches from Sydorenko.
The Harvest came next in 2015 with a new drummer, deftly transitioning Stoned Jesus into the new terrain, with more alternative and progressive rock leanings. This is a credit to Sydorenko’s evolving songwriting style and desire to never allow Stoned Jesus to repeat itself. “It works brilliantly for the likes of Motörhead or AC/DC, but we’re not that legendary yet,” he told Outlaws of the Sun in 2015. “So, let’s experiment, shall we? Let’s play with the genres, the sound, the song structures, the melodies, the time signatures — yes, my favorite trick!”
With another change of the drummer, the fourth LP, Pilgrims, arrived in 2018. A bold and experimental record, it showed the growing maturity of both musical and lyrical sides of Igor’s ever-progressing songwriting. After a year-long The Pilgrimage Tour and yet another year on the road celebrating the band’s 10th anniversary with the greatest hits setlist, Stoned Jesus’ original plans were to record its follow-up in 2020. That, of course, was sidelined by the pandemic. The band then entered Spivaki Records in Kharkiv in July 2021 to record nine songs at 75 minutes. Two-thirds of the material was mixed and mastered before the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, leaving the final run-time of six songs at 43 minutes.
The result was Father Light, the band’s first for Season of Mist, which caught Stoned Jesus in full bloom. The foundational elements of Stoned Jesus’s sound remained (fuzzed-out rock, driving bass lines and maximum groove), once again augmented by the combination of Sydorenko’s gentle clean vocals and hook-laden chorus choices, along with an array of ornamental guitar melodies. And, in true Stoned Jesus fashion, the journey is often the reward. The cuts on Father Light expand and shift — all the while, the band’s trademark heaviness serves as the guide.
Mother Dark, the gloomier introspective twin of Father Light, while partially recorded was shelved due to Igor’s dissatisfaction with the working dynamics of the latest Stoned Jesus line-up. Dissolving said line-up was a difficult decision to make, but Igor’s relocation to Europe brought a surprising reunion with his old friend Yurii, a talented drummer Igor had known even before writing the first Stoned Jesus song. Adding bassist-vocalist Andrew Rodin to this new line-up solidified its reliability, and after the whole year of relentless 15th Anniversary Tour schedule the reinvigorated Stoned Jesus was more than ready for their next chapter.
Songs to Sun arrived in 2025 as the first album in a forthcoming trilogy that once complete, will stand as the pinnacle of what’s been a decades-long trip for Stoned Jesus. While picking up where Father Light left off, Sydorenko and his new mates nodded to Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest along the way. But by merging metal’s fiery intensity with mind-melting grooves, nods to vintage prog and their catchiest choruses yet, they brought the many distinct phases of Stoned Jesus to a bright, burning head. The album was named one of the best the year by Doom Charts, Rock Hard, The Obelisk, Weedian, Metal Lair and other outlets.
Now, just one year later, following a European co-headline tour with Finnish proggers Wheel and a triumphant return to Hellfest, Stoned Jesus are taking a giant leap into the darkest, most daring and deeply moving territory of their career with Songs to Moon.
“Under The Skin” opens in the large shadows of its predecessor with a loud and heavy slab of post-metal that plunges 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 Chain’s 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 and ready to explore the next frontier.
Recording Lineup
Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Keyboards
Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals
Yurii Ciel – Drums, Backing Vocals
Live Lineup
Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitar
Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals
Ihor Biriuchenko – Drums, Percussion
Production Credits
Producer – Igor Sydorenko
Sound Engineer – Andy Rosczyk
Mixing and Mastering Engineer – Karl Daniel Lidén
Recording Studio
Goblin Sound Studio in Cologne, Germany
Mixing and Mastering Studio
Studio Tri-Lamb, Sweden
Cover Art
Vadym “Karaska” Karasiov
Follow Stoned Jesus
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/stonedjesusband
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/artist/stoned-jesus/396799004
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/23lyMLxYNPS15hpVvFNptR
Instagram: instagram.com/stonedjesusband
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Twitter: twitter.com/stonedjesusband
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YouTube: youtube.com/c/StonedJesus
Bandcamp: stonedjesus.bandcamp.com
