Stoned Jesus release theatrical new single 'Jackal' • GRIMM Gent

After topping best-of-2025 lists with Songs to Sun, STONED JESUS are cycling into darker territory with Songs to Moon. Now the band release “Jackal,” the album’s next advance single, following “Under the Skin” and lead single “Velvet.”

“Jackal” is Stoned Jesus at their most theatrical, a mini prog opera built on a moody Alice In Chains-style intro that escalates into the album’s heaviest, funkiest riff. “In the darkness of the future past,” Sydorenko whispers, “hear me walking over skulls and dust,” before an epic symphonic coda closes things out. Lyrically, it’s a blunt question: when you sell your soul for comfort, what kind of future do you get in return?

Igor Sydorenko says:

“‘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. Bonus challenge for all the true prog nerds. See if you can find the early Marillion line that I quoted word for word.”

Songs to Moon comes out October 16th, 2026, on Season of Mist, the second installment of the trilogy that began with Songs to Sun.

Pre-order & pre-save: https://orcd.co/stonedjesussongstomoon

Tracklist:
1. Under the Skin (5:29)
2. Velvet (5:11)
3. ZYX (5:30)
4. Syzgy (4:50)
5. Jackal (6:48)
6. Window in My Room (8:22)
7. One More Empty Day (4:41)
Full runtime: 40:53

Since 2009, Igor Sydorenko‘s Stoned Jesus has grown from a Kyiv-based solo project into one of Europe’s leading heavy rock acts, moving from First Communion (2010) through Father Light (2023) and 2025’s Songs to Sun, which landed on best-of-year lists from Doom Charts, Rock Hard, The Obelisk, Weedian and Metal Lair.

Songs to Sun arrived in 2025 as the first album in a forthcoming trilogy that once complete, will stand as the pinnacle of what’s been a decades-long trip for Stoned Jesus. While picking up where Father Light left off, Sydorenko and his new mates nodded to Seven Thunders Roar and The Harvest along the way. But by merging metal’s fiery intensity with mind-melting grooves, nods to vintage prog and their catchiest choruses yet, they brought the many distinct phases of Stoned Jesus to a bright, burning head. The album was named one of the best of the year by Doom Charts, Rock Hard, The Obelisk, Weedian, Metal Lair and other outlets.

Now, just one year later, following a European co-headline tour with Finnish proggers Wheel and a triumphant return to Hellfest, Stoned Jesus are taking a giant leap into the darkest, most daring and deeply moving territory of their career with Songs to Moon.

“Under The Skin” opens in the large shadows of its predecessor with a loud and heavy slab of post-metal that plunges into darkness like the setting sun. The existential shroud that hung over Songs to Sun continues to weigh on Sydorenko. “Still I’m falling down / From high above”, he sings with cool remove amidst the catchy doomgaze that’s expertly weaved into lead single “Velvet”. Mini-prog-opera “Jackal” features the band at their most theatrical. Smack in the middle of the tracklist (and falling precisely halfway through the entire trilogy), the melancholic “Syzgy” configures one melody from each Songs to…album into their first-ever instrumental track. But even on their darkest and moodiest record, Stoned Jesus can’t be confined to just one shade of blue.

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.