Palm Desert – Rays Of The Gold And Grays

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · January 12, 2026

Palm Desert are a stoner/desert rock five-piece from Wroclaw, Poland. Active since 2008, the band consists of Kamil Ziółkowski on drums, Jan Rutka on bass, Piotr Łacny on guitar,Wojciech Gałuszka on vocals, and Wojciech Kuczwalski on guitar. They have released 2009’s Dawn Of The Burning Sun (Demo 2009), 2009’s The Highest Fuel Level, 2010’s Falls Of The Wasteland, 2013’s Rotten Village Sessions, 2013’s Adayoff, 2014’s Pearls Of The Muddy Hollow, 2016’s Songs from the Dead Seas, and 2016’s Rusted Into Oblivion. Palm Desert just released their latest album called Rays Of The Gold And Grays on December 5th, on Electric Witch Mountain Recordings. It contains eight tracks at forty three minutes long.

Rays Of The Gold And Grays is the first recording that I have heard from this already well established band. The drummer Kamil Ziółkowski and bassist Jan Rutka also play in the legendary Spaceslug. The Palm Desert name itself has a direct correlation to the California desert rock sound of the likes of Kyuss and Brant Bjork. The opening track, “In The Breeze” has a chilled out groove to start things off. The vocals are very cool and smooth sounding with a catchy vibe. The fuzzy riffs have a bouncy texture that rocks hard! “Black Hurricane” storms out of the gate with a full momentum raging of reckless abandon. The band hits you directly with this one and pulls no punches on this sonic beat down.

“Blue Of The Sky” has the slower groove that is drenched in fuzz. This song rocks on with a heavy head banging inclination in the riffs and shines in melody too. The fourth track entitled “Lightriders” is an eight and half minute epic song that begins mellow with clean guitars and layers of heavy psych. The cosmic vocals matches the vibe of the song and it has a terrific flow of rhythms and transitions nicely between hard and softer tones. “At The Edge Of Time” begins with clean guitars and the sound of a hotrod engine starting up. It then kicks right into a bombastic groove of “oh yeahs!” and it’s a hard rocking and catchy tune that is fantastic.

The band has a great sound that puts a big grin on my face. By the time the excellent title track, “Rays Of The Gold And Grays” kicks in at track six, Palm Desert has already proven to be a force in the desert rock category. They are not predictable by any means, and their sound has a lot of dynamics within each individual song. The guitar leads are also worth mentioning in the contents of this album. They add a great enhancement to the fuzzy riffs that Palm Desert are playing. “Son Of Wind And Dust” is a straightforward head ripping rocker that pushes the momentum onward. They have some groovy and angular structures within their sound that is so refreshing and interesting too.

The eighth and final song on the album is called “In My Eyes” and it’s great! It begins mellow with nice guitar picking and singing to match. It ignites into a heavy stoner rhythm while keeping the charm of the California desert. The grungy riffs are dirty sounding and it adds a nice touch to the overall sound of Rays Of The Gold And Grays. Overall, I really enjoy this recording and need to keep listening to it in order to really grasp everything that Palm Desert is dishing out.