Written By Chris Norris
In this Stoned Jesus Songs to Moon Interview, there is no clean descent into Songs to Moon. The floor simply begins to give way. What starts as unease becomes weight, what feels like weight becomes quicksand, and somewhere along the way the listener realizes the album isn’t asking to be escaped. It’s asking you to remain inside the fall.
You can’t identify the threat, so your mind starts manufacturing one. Every shadow becomes evidence. Every silence acquires intent.
“The horror is awareness without agency. You’re conscious enough to know something is wrong, but you can’t find the exit, can’t stop the fall, and can’t necessarily trust your own perception anymore.”
At its most unsettling, Songs to Moon feels like being locked in a dark room full of lidless eyes. Nothing reaches for you. Nothing has to. Stay there long enough and the silence begins feeding the paranoia for you.
It is sonic quicksand, where the instinct to escape only seems to pull the listener further beneath the surface.
That sense of unease doesn’t exist by accident. Songs to Moon was built to inhabit uncomfortable spaces, where isolation, uncertainty and psychological weight become as important as the riffs themselves.
With the album now completing another chapter in Stoned Jesus’ evolving body of work, this Stoned Jesus Songs to Moon Interview explores the ideas behind the record, the darkness running through its eight tracks, and what it took to turn something so inward and unsettling into sound.
Stoned Jesus Songs to Moon Interview: Q&A
Metal Lair: The last time we spoke, you ended our conversation by saying, “Now, let’s see how it’s going to go for Songs to Moon.” Well, here we are.
You also admitted that Songs to Sun didn’t entirely obey your original idea of it being the “heavy” chapter, and you thought it was better for that.
Did Songs to Moon stay closer to the record you originally imagined, or did this one start breaking its own rules too?
Igor Sydorenko: Hah, kind of! It starts off really heavy, with “Under the Skin” being not far from “Low” off Songs to Sun both sonically and vibe-wise.
But the further you listen, the quieter album is becoming, and the final song, “One More Empty Day”, is literally just my voice and acoustic guitars.
It’s like you’re peeling away those layers of doubt and desperation to see the naked truth at the core of everything.
Metal Lair: Songs to Sun often felt like a record in motion, while Songs to Moon feels strangely suspended, almost as if forward movement itself has become difficult.
Was creating that sense of confinement and stillness part of the musical architecture from the beginning, or something that emerged once the songs began taking shape?
Igor Sydorenko: I’ve wanted to create this really dark and moody record for Stoned Jesus for some time, having written quite a few songs of that kind at the beginning of the pandemic.
If anyone remembers, there was this idea of two albums mirroring each other, Father Light (heavy and energetic) and Mother Dark (moody and slow).
With the previous SJ line-up we recorded almost 70 minutes of material, and 43 of those minutes became Father Light, released in March 2023.
And then there were songs we’d been working on, to add to those 27 minutes that we had for Mother Dark already.
And those were great songs but they didn’t work in those circumstances – so I had to change circumstances, and voilà, here I am in a different country with some other people playing in SJ and now these songs truly breathe!
I didn’t want to release them as Mother Dark anymore, that chapter was over for me. So adding a few other tracks a similarly dark, gloomy vein to these songs basically resulted in Songs to Moon – an uneven but beautiful record which I’m very proud of. And those 27 minutes? Still in my vault!
Metal Lair: When we spoke about Songs to Sun, you acknowledged how often images of falling, losing ground and quicksand appear in your writing.
“Velvet” takes that imagery somewhere even stranger: the narrator is falling but never seems to reach the bottom. What keeps drawing you back to that idea of descent?
Igor Sydorenko: That’s what I asked myself! And the whole song is me trying to answer that. I mean obviously I crave for stability, but there’s also a sort of perverse decadence in always falling, you know?
Metal Lair: Last time you told us you’re not interested in modern metal being “heavy for heavy’s sake.” With Songs to Moon, that idea seems to go even further.
Records like Damnation and Jar of Flies can feel crushing without relying on conventional metallic aggression. Has making this album changed, or perhaps clarified, what the word heavy means to you?
Igor Sydorenko: Good question! Basically yeah, this didn’t change – I find 90% of current metal ridiculous, especially when they try to go heavy.
I think the only recent metal song that truly works as heavy for me is “Born For One Thing” by Gojira. Also you’re right, Damnation/Jar of Flies vibe is the sort of heaviness I was striving for with Songs to Moon, and I think the heaviest number on this LP is actually “Window in My Room”.
Metal Lair: “Window in My Room” creates an unusually small world: a room, two trees, a house, the sky.
Yet there’s something almost comforting about the narrator choosing to remain there. What interested you about making isolation feel simultaneously restrictive and safe?
Igor Sydorenko: This is pretty cool that you see it as mellow and safe, that means there’s nothing wrong with you, ahah! Because I was actually writing it as a suicide note of sorts, the last words of someone who got stuck in his head, in his little “room”, and there’s no other way out.
That’s why it’s the heaviest song on the record for me. Also one of the most depressive songs I’d written, but it’s all in major key!
Metal Lair: “Jackal” feels like a rupture in the album. Much of Songs to Moon turns inward, but suddenly the lens pulls back toward technology, passivity, environmental collapse and a society willingly putting itself to sleep.
Why did that song belong on such an introspective record?
Igor Sydorenko: Yes, and it also disrupts the flow a little bit, with how songs go less and less intense sonically as the record progresses – and then you have this crazy uncle storming the funeral party, ahah!
And that’s why it’s also different lyrically, because we have the whole LP dedicated to how sad our protagonist is and here we can kinda see why, with everything that is happening in the world right now.
I was never a fan of these “we-live-in-a-society”-type-songs, but I’m actually very proud of these lyrics and how they work within the song.
Metal Lair: You were surprised when we last spoke that listeners had connected so strongly with Lost in the Rain and Quicksand, two of the less obvious and more personal songs on Songs to Sun.
Did that response give you any additional confidence in asking listeners to follow Stoned Jesus somewhere even more introspective on Songs to Moon, or was the second chapter already too fully formed for outside reaction to affect it?
Igor Sydorenko: I would say it’s both? Of course these songs were already written, some had been looking for their home for years! So obviously I wanted to give them this home, in one way or another.
That’s why I put “Lost in the Rain” on Songs to Sun actually, to test the waters – and seeing the response I was sure I NEED to release Songs to Moon now!
Besides I’m pretty confident at that point that our fanbase is intelligent enough to enjoy a Stoned Jesus album for what it is, without demanding it to be yet another Seven Thunders Roar copy.
Genre audience is a different beast of course but hey, they know what they like and they like what they know, amirite.
Metal Lair: We now know the trilogy eventually moves from Songs to Sun through Songs to Moon and toward the expansive final chapter.
Without giving away what should remain hidden, when listeners eventually reach the end of all three records, what do you hope becomes clearer about Songs to Moon that might not be apparent while we’re standing inside it?
Igor Sydorenko: Years from now I think people will itemize Songs to Moon as “the dark and mellow one”, not only in The Songs Trilogy, but in the whole SJ discography – because honestly that had always been my goal, creating something unique and distinguishable with every album, every set of songs.
I don’t think we ever did two similar LPs and I would prefer this to continue that way!
Metal Lair: You’ve answered enough serious questions from us. What is one completely irrational opinion you hold that you’re willing to defend to the death?
Igor Sydorenko: Reload is Metallica’s songwriting peak! I don’t care if you disagree and I refuse to elaborate, ahah.
Metal Lair: Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. We’ve loved following this chapter of Stoned Jesus and digging deeper into Songs to Moon with you.
We appreciate the conversation and can’t wait to see where you take things next.
Igor Sydorenko: My pleasure! Now, off to the studio to polish that Songs to Earth material…
Before Songs to Moon pulled everything inward, Songs to Sun set the trilogy in motion. Revisit our earlier Stoned Jesus interview and Songs to Sun album review to follow the story from the beginning.
In this Stoned Jesus Songs to Moon Interview, the album emerges as the quieter, darker chapter of the band’s trilogy, but quiet is doing a lot of work here. Its heaviness comes less from impact than from atmosphere, isolation, and the uncomfortable places Sydorenko is willing to leave exposed.
If Songs to Sun pushed outward, Songs to Moon turns inward and stays there long enough for the walls to start moving.
And somewhere beyond all of that, Songs to Earth is already taking shape. Igor may be back in the studio polishing the final chapter, but for now, the moon still has us in its gravity.
Songs To Moon Tracklisting:
1.Under the Skin
2. Velvet
3. ZYX
4. Syzygy
5. Jackal
6. Window in My Room
7. One More Empty Day
Members
Igor Sydorenko – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards
Andrew Rodin – Bass, Backing Vocals
Ihor Biriuchenko (Live/Touring) – Drums, Percussion
STONED JESUS ONLINE
About the Author
Chris Norris is the voice behind Metal Lair’s global metal coverage, World Metal Weekly. From funeral doom in the north to thrash born in the streets. Known for spotlighting bands before algorithms notice them and for writing with the precision of a scalpel… or a well-sharpened guitar pick. Vinyl collector. Night-shift journalist. Believes heavy music has no borders.
Read More From This Author:
Fallen Letters Interview: Finding Beauty in A Familiar Absence
Rotting Christ Interview: Sakis Tolis on 35 Years of Greek Metal, History and Legacy
Interview With Cutthroat and the Sound of Urban Collapse
Green Carnation Part III: The Messiah Complex Interview
Interview With The Ghoulstars: Horror Punk, VHS Culture & The Dark Overlords of the Universe
No algorithms. No fluff. No watered-down corporate metal coverage.
Subscribe to Metal Lair and get weekly underground features, Seven Deadly Songs, Deep Cuts, interviews, and original metal journalism sent directly to your inbox.
Join the patrons of Metal Lair
MetalLair.net is a metal zine muttering to itself about seo and blastbeats at 3 AM powered by caffeine, riffs, a severe lack of sleep, and a dog wondering why the human is still awake.
Sometimes it’s Kevin passing out mid Seven Deadly Songs.
Sometimes it’s digging up forgotten records no one else is talking about.
Always, it’s built for people who actually live this music.
If that sounds like you, you’re already one of us.
Supporting Metal Lair means keeping it independent, loud, and real with no corporate filters, no watered-down takes. If you want to help keep it alive…
Become a patron of Metal Lair.
FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE METAL LAIR COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT
Have a metal-related grievance that needs official investigation?
Bad concert etiquette? Venue bullshit? Festival fuckery? A trend in metal that needs to die? An industry annoyance? Something that’s been pissing you off since 1987? Have a complaint against Metal Lair?
FILE YOUR COMPLAINT
File it with the Complaint Department. Remmy may investigate your grievance in a future installment.
Selected grievances may be investigated, mocked, dissected or otherwise subjected to the questionable judgment of Remmy Chillmister in a future edition of The Metal Lair Complaint Department.
Submission does not guarantee investigation. Remmy has a substantial backlog of things that piss him off.