Sonic Prayer is the debut album by the San Diego psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock

Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...

 band Earthless

Earthless

Earthless is an instrumental psychedelic rock band from San Diego, California consisting of guitarist Isaiah Mitchell, bassist Mike Eginton, and drummer Mario Rubalcaba. The band formed in 2001 and released their first album Sonic Prayer through Gravity Records in 2005. A 10" single entitled Sonic...

, released on April 26, 2005 by Gravity Records

Gravity Records (US)

Gravity Records is an underground independent record label from San Diego. It was formed in 1991 by Matt Anderson, a member of the influential underground band Heroin. It has been central in developing and promoting the "San Diego sound" - an idiosyncratic form of post-hardcore with loose, chaotic...

. It consists of two instrumental pieces, each just over twenty minutes in length. It was recorded at Gravity Studios in San Diego by Matt A. and mixed at Strange Sounds with Gar Wood of Beehive & the Barracudas and Hot Snakes

Hot Snakes

Hot Snakes were an American post-hardcore band led by Rick Froberg and John Reis, formed in 1999 in San Diego, California and disbanded in 2005. Reis and Froberg had previously performed together in Pitchfork and Drive Like Jehu, after which Reis had found international success with Rocket from the...

. The album artwork was done by bassist

Bassist

A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...

 Mike Eginton and the disc art was done by R. Sanderson.

Allmusic reviewer Thom Jurek remarked that "Droning, thudding space jams are Earthless' trip du jour, and they do it shockingly well." He praised Isaiah Mitchell's "stellar" guitar playing, Mario Rubalcaba

Mario Rubalcaba

Mario Rubalcaba is an American drummer from San Diego, notable as a member of numerous rock bands including Thingy, Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Earthless, the Sultans, and Off! He has also played on albums by The Black Heart Procession and Pinback and was formerly a professional...

's "beat-heavy atmospherics", and Mike Eginton's "repetitive, hypnotic" bass lines while noting the Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath

Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

 influences in "Lost in the Cold Sun" and calling the album one of the best in the stoner rock

Stoner rock

Stoner rock or stoner metal is a subgenre of heavy metal, combining elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock, traditional heavy metal and doom metal. Stoner rock is typically slow-to-mid tempo and features a bass-heavy sound, melodic vocals, and 'retro' production...

 genre.

Personnel

• Isaiah Mitchell – guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  
• Mike Eginton – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Mario Rubalcaba
  Mario Rubalcaba
  Mario Rubalcaba is an American drummer from San Diego, notable as a member of numerous rock bands including Thingy, Rocket from the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Earthless, the Sultans, and Off! He has also played on albums by The Black Heart Procession and Pinback and was formerly a professional...
  
   – drum kit
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....