With their forthcoming album trilogy, the heavy progressive trailblazers in Stoned Jesus are reaching a new creative peak. After topping best of 2025 lists with its scorching opener, Songs to Sun, this year, frontman Igor Sydorenko and his bandmates are cycling into the darkest, most daring and deeply moving territory of their career with Songs to Moon.
Today, Stoned Jesus are thrilled to release the album’s mini prog opera as the second advanced single from Songs to Moon. While hounded by grim hopes for the future, the wily “Jackal” will leave progressive rockers of all stripes pleasantly surprised.
“‘Jackal’ is Stoned Jesus at our most theatrical. Even though the time signature is 4/4 through and through, it’s the proggiest song on Songs to Moon”, Sydorenko says before adding. “Bonus challenge for all the true prog nerds. See if you can find the early Marillion line that I quoted word for word”.
Watch the video for “Jackal” below:
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?utm_source=copy-link
The Songs trilogy spans the many phases of Stoned Jesus. While an existential shroud hung over Songs to Sun, Songs to Moon plunges the band into a dark night of the soul. Like the bogeyman, “Jackal” stalks through a house of horrors. “In the darkness of the future past”, Sydorenko whispers over drums that rattle like Alice in Chains on Jar of Flies. “Hear me walking over skulls and dust”. Behind each locked door lies a disturbing scene that one expects to find when reading Aldous Huxley or George Orwell.
“Lyrically, the question that ‘Jackal’ poses is pretty much on the nose”, says Sydorenko. “When you sell your soul for comfort, what kind of future do you get in return?”.
But even though Songs to Moon is their most melancholic album, Stoned Jesus can’t be confined to just one shade of blue. As shadows often do, “Jackal” shifts its shape in the blink of an eye. “Go to sleep”, Sydorenko commands before kicking down the doors with the album’s heaviest - and funkiest - blues riff. The facts of the matter are grim (“No money, no future, no reason to fight”), but the song’s epic symphonic coda builds a clear case that for Stoned Jesus, both the present and future are blazingly bright.
The video for “Jackal” was created by Phobia Artworks.
Catch Stoned Jesus this fall as they debut Songs to Moon on European stages.
Stoned Jesus 2026 European Festival Dates
October 30 - Vallet, France @ WeStill Fest [TICKETS]
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
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