Review: Spaceship Landing: A Tribute to KYUSS (2025)

Released by the digital label Witching Cult, this twenty-track collection gathers a global lineup to honor the architects of desert rock. A map of fuzz and heat drawn anew, tracing the dry pulse of Palm Desert through bands scattered across the world: France, Italy, USA, Norway, Germany, Spain, Finland, Australia… what unites them is the enduring current that runs through Kyuss: that raw desert pulse carried forward in new hands, and reimagined under different suns.

The highlight is expected, and then some: “50 Million Year Trip (Downside Up)” by Finland’s Void Cruiser takes on the impossible task of expanding what was already vast. The long instrumental stretch, that wordless spiral near the end, turns heavier and looser, as if recorded inside the body of the amplifier itself. It’s a translation through tone alright, with less space and more dune in the background.

Sonic Wolves deliver a striking version of “Thumb,” keeping its core pulse intact but launching it into orbit. The bass growls deeper, the fuzz spreads like heat shimmer. It’s heavier and fuzzier, more spacious, like desert night stretched into vacuum.

King Howl from Italy reshape “Freedom Run” into something warmer and trippier, stretching the riffs into wide, slow motion. The psychedelia becomes humid, almost alive. Poste 942 bring “Demon Cleaner” back into full stoner gear – thicker fuzz, more sweat, and this time around, less mysticism. That direct, unfiltered drive is what separates this collection from the original material, and what makes it interesting.

Across the collection, the shift is clear: this tribute leans deeper into the stoner side of the desert. Less about space travels, more about sand-in-your-sandals kind of vibe. Ironically, the tribute becomes heavier than the original gospel – more open, letting go where Kyuss once held more tension. There’s a looseness here, a sense that these bands aren’t chasing ghosts but meeting them halfway, trading precision for haze, structure for flow. In a way, it is indeed about a spaceship landing, maybe even crashing, where the dust of space is off, and what remains is the raw earth underneath.

A global snapshot of how Kyuss still breathes through rehearsal rooms and garages far from California. A document of influence, distortion, and gratitude, twenty reflections orbiting one burning source. Well done!