Last time we heard from Blackburn heavy rockers Sky Valley Mistress, they were a four-piece who'd recorded their 2020 debut album in the Mohave Desert (strong hints at their musical motivation lie in their name, drawn from Welcome to Sky Valley, an album by Kyuss, Josh Homme’s pre-Queens of the Stone Age outfit).
Now consisting of singer Kayley “Hell Kitten” Davies and guitarist Max Newsome, the pair play the drums together. As in, each simultaneously attends to a different part of the kit. The sound is meaty. It also has roll as well as rock. Even, at times, a stentorian funk underpinning. Co-produced with Danny Blackburn of rising Leeds indie-dance act Adult DVD, it headbangs enough for Download, but also wants to shake a leg.
The songs range from the ambitious, rainswept, Led Zep-flavoured prog-folk-blues of “House of the Moon” to the groovy, hip-swaying, organ-fuelled “The Exit List”, a song faintly redolent of The Stooges’ “Dirt”, to the monster-chorused rock-hammering of “No Sleep”. The latter, and a few others, may appeal to those who miss the late, great Deap Vally (not dead, but defunct as of 2024).
With a couple of exceptions, the lyrics are adequate rather than central, but it’s no matter. While there’s a string section, electronic fuzz, a children’s chorus, and more, by the time the nigh-on-10-minute closing cut, “Blue Desert II”, arrives, Luna Mausoleum has hit home. Its raunchy, blues-rockin’ heaviness is riven with pop suss and real swing, punched forward by Kayley Davies’s enormous, Grace Slick-ish vocals.
Sky Valley Mistress tour in a hearse and claim this is their soundtrack for driving it to the Moon. Their label, New Heavy Sounds, have long backed a range of exciting, metal-adjacent, often female-fronted bands. Both duo and imprint are well overdue a higher profile. Luna Mausoleum feels ripe with such promise, whether they make it to the Moon or not.
Below: watch the video for 'Two Many Ghosts' by Sky Valley Mistress
