Context matters. And that idea gets ratcheted up in my review of Bones, the follow-up album to the 2023 debut Porta Coeli by Shadow Of Jupiter, this tight–musically and spiritually–quartet from Chicago.
Shadow Of Jupiter – Bones
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Sunil Singh
I interviewed the band on July 7 for an upcoming write-up for MetalTalk. On July 10, Bones was released. I listened to it twice that day. I realised that the magnitude of this album needed an immediate review from me. So, I stopped writing the interview article and instead focused on giving a “stop the presses” kind of urgency to the album review.
Context matters.
The World Cup has taken up all my attention, as it has for over 40 years. Combine that with being an England supporter, my emotional tank gets drained with every victory and subsequently, as history tells us, an always cruel defeat.
It is Sunday. The day after a hard-fought win over Norway. Normally, I would never have mixed feelings about a Knockout win for England in the World Cup. But, I am Facebook friends with three of the members of Kal-El, a Norwegian band that has a global following, and their 2026 album Astral Voyager, Volume 2 was immediately thrown into the ring as Album Of The Year.
Stale Rodvelt, lead singer of Kal-El made this comment on Bones on social media: “Bones is definitely a strong candidate for my AOTY.”
Incoming horrible spoiler alert, it is mine as well.
All my album reviews thus far have been detailed with song-by-song descriptions. It is both a blessing and a curse to have this ‘surgical’ passion to write with individual attention to each song.
However, I am going to go macro on Bones primarily because I had a Sunday morning conversation with Colin Peterson (guitarist) of the band, who made me rethink the value of reviewing the whole album as one experience, in spite of there being so much variety on the album’s seven songs.
Also, we are kind of working backwards here from the album getting the gold standard distinction with AOTY. Anytime I hear that in our scene, regardless of source, because there is an understood democracy of the weight of opinions, I really do not need to hear/read anymore.
The album is going to deliver the goods. How good? Rob Halford would be proud to belt out that deliverance.
You know what [as Sunil thinks in real time], let me loop some interview material that can tease out the vibe of the album. The following four artists represent a response to my opening question to the band. You will have to wait until the interview gets published to see what on Earth the question was that had such unique and varied responses!
John Piotrowski(singer), Minor Threat – Gorilla Biscuits – Minor Threat (Live 2025)
Colin Peterson(guitarist), Thin Lizzy – Thin Lizzy The Sun Goes Down
Scott Brakebill, The Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead – Sugaree (Winterland 10/18/74) (Official Live Video)
Adam Kazragyz, Toto – Toto – Hold The Line (Live in Poland) (HQ)
Not what you might have expected from Chicago’s stoner/heavy psych merchants, right?
That is because this album and the band members have a wide range of influences and personalities. That said, it all comes together, much like when individual ingredients in a soup are elevated to something sublime when they are added in the right amount, proportion, and timing.
Great bands employ the power of the collective, ensuring each member shines. That magical cohesion is flush on Bones.
Having the interview in my rearview mirror, there were far too many reference points for me, as a writer, to latch on to write my review.
First off, many great albums have a collection of memorable songs, but sometimes the order of the songs feels odd, where maybe the pacing of the album was not a strong consideration.
To be honest, I had some doubt if the band could maintain the momentum of the title song, which I rewound several times just after a few minutes to hear all the musical entanglements. I am sure you will find your own, but even in the first 90 seconds, I heard Jane’s Addiction, Soundgarden, The Beatles, and The Doors, all of which give way to a savoury whisper of Middle Eastern tones.
It is also a great video, perfectly capturing the shifting moods of the song.
This exotic bridge is something that is very reminiscent of Southern sludge masters Alabama Thunderpussy’s Struggling For Balance. Just cue up the song around the three-minute mark, and be transported to the deserts that are clearly not North American.
Not only does the whole album shine beyond the title song, but by the time the album gets to Rumblestrip and Riot Dogs, there is a looseness/swagger that emerges that starts bringing it all home.
The final song, For Heaven Above, sits unapologetically in the Robin Trower/Bridge Of Sighs well.
The whole band is firing on all cylinders, with each member elevating the band’s sound as a synergistic whole. The drumming is so on point. I even hear some Ian Paice-like fills near the end of Riot Dogs.
If the library of rock music was a skating rink, Shadow Of Jupiter is the hockey team that plays on it, gliding from one era to another effortlessly. Sometimes they play with the finesse/tactics of the great Russian teams of the ’70s, and sometimes they play with the goon tactics of The Hanson Brothers, wrapping their knuckles in foil, ready to take on anyone with their hypnotic and swirling doom.
One of the vibes going on here that helps describe their nomadic, even spiritual sound is that of Mind Funk’s second album Goddess, which was released in 1993.
Shadow Of Jupiter draws musical influences from every decade, from the ’60s to the present. If you like your blues/psych/doom soaked in all of that, then this album has to be added to your collection in 2026.
Fully expect this band to have more of a global following with Bones. It is just that fuckin’ stellar!
Shadow Of Jupiter released Bones on 10 July 2026 via Riple Music. For more details, visit lnkfi.re/sojbones. You can find out more at Bandcamp.
