One of the real joys of writing about heavy music is its expansiveness. I've written about this before, but there are so many ways to make heavy music, and that freedom allows for a much broader range of sounds than most music genres. With this review of Ohio's Valley of The Sun, I have now reviewed 12 albums, and none particularly sound like any of the others. Click through to that page and you'll see black metal, noise rock, heavy industrial, synthwave, and now, with the addition of The Blacklight Sessions, some good old-fashioned stoner rock.  

While this new album is my first introduction to Valley of the Sun, they've been kicking around since 2010, albeit with a few lineup changes along the way. Singer and lead guitarist Ryan Ferrier is the sole original member, although bassist Chris Sweeney has been onboard since 2018, and drummer Johnny Kathman has been part of the team for the last three years. On this new album, the trio has produced six songs across 41 minutes, all blues-influenced, ripping stoner rock.

The album opens with the chugging instrumental "The Whiskey Elf," which starts things off with a straightforward, declarative opening statement: this is a rock album, straight up. It's not overly complicated -  it's fast, hard-charging, head-bobbing rock. 

Vocals come in on the second track, "Low Not Slow," and Ferrier's voice is a perfect match to for the fuzzy retro stoner rock of this track and the remainder of the album. Things slow down (momentarily) on the next track, the literally named 10-minute album centerpiece "The Long Song." But, after a few minutes of a slower, more psychedelic-inflected opening, "The Long Song" kicks back into the same high gear as the two previous tracks. There are a few meandering into spacey territory over the course of "The Long Song," but ultimately everything on this album always comes back to fast, bluesy riffing. 

This isn't really an album for people who want an emotional journey with peaks and valleys - this is for people who want to rock out, now and forever. It's an album full of strut and swagger, perfect for blasting across the desert in your Trans Am, with Ray Bans on to keep the dust from your eyes. Valley of the Sun's The Blacklight Sessions is a fun jam, and that's about all there is to say. But, sometimes, that's all that you need. 

Valley of the Sun's The Blacklight Sessions is out October 2 via Heavy Psych Sounds