Wo Fat - The Singularity (Album Review)

Release Date: May 06th 2022. Record Label: Ripple Music. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

The Singularity - Tracklisting

Orphans Of The Singe

The Snows Of Banquo IV

Overworlder

The Unraveling

The Witching Chamber

The Singularity

The Oracle

Members

Kent Stump - Guitar/Vocals

Michael Walter - Drums/Percussion/Harmony Vocals

Zack Busby - Bass

Review

Psychedelic Doom/Stoner Metal legends Wo Fat return with their seventh new album The Singularity and these guys are a band who need no introduction. What you always get is stunning Psychedelic Blues, Southern Rock and perhaps Swampedelic grooves. This album is perhaps the craziest offering the guys have released to date with tales of humanity battling artificial intelligence and machines for the future safety of our planet. Perhaps not as crazy as it seems within the real world we currently occupy. 

This album is most definitely their most progressive release to date with epic long drawn out Doom based grooves with twinges of Psych Rock, Classic Rock and Stoner Metal reigning supreme from start to finish. The killer artwork by Eli Quinn gives you the much needed inspiration and glimpse on what to expect on this album. The Singularity runs past the seventy minutes mark across seven epic tracks with some running between thirteen and seventeen minutes in length.

Wo Fat are the masters at playing "Swampedelic" within the underground scene. You're fully drawn in from the excellent opening song Orphans Of The Singe with it's bombastic and fantastical lyrics that's levelled off by modern day Psych Doom/Stoner Metal with a slight classic vintage sound that Wo Fat are known for. The song sees Wo Fat maybe take influence from RUSH on this release and you get to hear that new found style of music on this gloriously heavy new track. Throw in a ton of great instrumental solos that last a gloriously fucking long time.

The band keep coming at you with wild out there lyrics and gloriously epic progressive sounds that venture far past the standard rules of Doom/Stoner Metal especially when the Blues Rock fused swamp based atmospherics fully take over. There's also a fine amount of heavy distortion on this album but one that allows the band to fully keep moving with their wonderfully clever creative ideas on tracks such as: The Snows Of Banquo IV, Overworlder, The Witching Chamber and The Oracle.

If you delve further into the lyrical content on this album then you can see Wo Fat have taken hard hitting social issues such as Climate Change, Disinformation and humanity's issues whilst remaining true to themselves within the riffs department. 

The Singularity has echoes of many different musical sounds and styles from over the last forty years of Doom/Stoner Metal with everything still feeling remarkably fresh and original. 

Boosted by wonderful production and recording values  that were handled by Wo Fat lead vocalist Kent Stump at his famed Crystal Clear Sound in Dallas, Texas. With the added bonus of being a Ripple Music release, then you have the recipe for continued success from two iconic sources of the underground music scene,

The Singularity has the potential to be one of the standout Stoner Metal albums of the year and maybe considered a future classic in the making. Yeah, I said it and I stand by every word.

Wo Fat are back with a vengeance and long may that continue.

WOW!!!!

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Claire at Purple Sage PR for the promo.

The Singularity will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ripple Music from May 06th 2022. 

Links

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

WO FAT announce new album on Ripple Music; first three records to be available for the first time in the US!

Chief purveyors of Texas-sized psychedelic doom WO FAT once again team up with Ripple Music for the upcoming release of their awaited seventh studio album — and followup to 2017's acclaimed 'Midnight Cometh' — next year. Ripple Music is also set to reissue the trio's first three albums in the coming months, making these long out-of-print classics available to North American fans for the very first time.

Over the course of a sonic odyssey which spans six studio albums, one live recording and two splits, Texas' very own psychedelic doom mongers WO FAT have stayed true to the deep, dark blues that wail from within and have continually infused their riffs with primal grooves. Having secured their legendary status within the stoner rock community by appearing on much coveted bills at Roadburn, Desertfest, Freak Valley Festival, Hellfest and Psycho Las Vegas, their latest release and collaboration with Ripple Music, 'Live Juju: Freak Valley' seemed to be the perfect follow-up to their critically acclaimed 2017 album 'Midnight Cometh'.

While WO FAT have just confirmed the release of their seventh full-length in the fall of 2021, Ripple Music will repress the band's long out-of-print Nasoni Records albums from days past, starting with 'Psychedelonaut' (2009) in the spring of 2021, followed by 'The Gathering Dark' (2006) and 'Noche Del Chupacabra' (2011) in 2022. All upcoming reissues will be available on black vinyl and limited edition colored vinyl with new liner notes, for the first time ever to North American fans.

After over 12 years of slinging their Texas-sized psychedelic blues doom, WO FAT is going stronger and rocking harder than ever, as they continue their swampadelic vision quest of overdriven, fuzz-laden riffag eand jazz-minded jam explorations, and with six studio albums, a live album, and a couple splits under their belt, Wo Fat has gained a reputation as one of the premier US Stoner Metal bands. Starting with 'The Gathering Dark' in 2006, they have stayed true to the deep, dark blues that wails from within and have forged their riffs with a primal grooviness, giving them a consistency of style, even while they have progressed and matured as a band, with their musical forays getting heavier but also trippier at times.

2009’s 'Psychedelonaut' really began to solidify the WO FAT name, garnering them wider critical recognition, leading to releases with Nasoni and Totem Cat Records and then on to their two most critically acclaimed releases to date: 'The Black Code' (2013) and 'The Conjuring' (2014) on Small Stone Records, with 'The Conjuring' landing on NPR’s “Top Ten Metal Albums of 2014” among numerous other best-of lists. During these last few years, Wo Fat have made appearances a number of iconic festivals in Europe and the US, Wo Fat teamed up with Ripple Records to release 'Midnight Cometh', a slab of riffage that is possibly their most daring psychotropic exploration of heaviness to date.

With voodoo drums beating and molten blues-tempered waves of guitar riffery, they are carrying on the WO FAT tradition of keeping things heavy and fuzzy, but also groovy, which, all too often, is a missing element in much modern heavy music. You can hear the echoes of field hollers and that oft forgotten “way back yonder funk” that fuel the fire that burns deep in the swamp at the witching hour. You can feel the rush of living on the edge and glimpse a phantasmal Coltrane in your peripheral vision as they careen through improvisational jams. And all this with an unrelenting metal heaviness underscoring apocalyptic lyrics that conjure visions of the end of an age, and black midnight bargains and the consequences reaped. While Wo Fat may be speaking a familiar language to the apostles of the riff, there isn’t anyone that sounds quite like them.

WO FAT is:

Kent Stump – guitar, vocals
Michael Walter – drums
Zack Busby – bass

WO FAT LINKS

Web | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram

RIPPLE MUSIC LINKS

Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Youtube | Instagram

An Interview with WO FAT

It's always good catching up and talking to Wo Fat. They've been one of my favourite Swampedelic Doom/Stoner Metal bands for the last few years now. Currently in the middle of a US Tour with their new bassist - Zack Busby. 

i was given the chance to catch up Wo Fat and discuss how things are currently going with the band. New Album plans and their involvement with the forthcoming movie Planet Of Doom.

Ladies and Gentlemen - It's time for WO FAT....

HI guys. Thanks for doing this interview. Long-time no speak. How are things with you all at the moment.

Thanks. Things are great. We are going out on our little US tour with our new bass player, Zack Busby, who is kicking ass and the band sounds great.

You’re about to go a mini-tour of the USA. This is perhaps your most extensive you’ve done in a long while. Are you all excited for this tour.

We are excited about it. We don’t do a whole of touring, especially in the US, so we’re looking forward to getting out there and reaching some new fans and seeing some friends we haven’t seen in a while. We are heading through the Midwest back to the east coast to play at Maryland Doomfest, which should be pretty killer.

I’ve seen you guys in action a few years ago when you played in London. For people who haven’t had the full Wo Fat swampadelic experience. What can people expect from your forthcoming tour.

As you said, I think they can expect a swampadelic experience of riffy heaviness. As I mentioned, we have a new bass (he’s been playing with us almost a year, but since we haven’t really toured in that time, it will be a new thing even for people who have seen us before because he brings a new vibe and level of heavy to the band. I think the live groove with the band is heavier and harder than ever. We’ll be playing some songs from Midnight Cometh as well as from previous albums.

The tour is finishing at Maryland Doom Festival. Are you headlining that festival or just playing a regular set there.

We are just playing a regular set, but we’ve got a pretty cool spot in the lineup. It’s a killer bill that we’re honoured to be a part of.

Will you be looking forward in seeing other bands perform at that festival. If so which ones are you looking forward to.

Most definitely looking forward to seeing a number of other bands on the lineup. Unfortunately we’ll only be there for Saturday (the day we play) so we’ll miss a lot of great bands but it will be great to see Earthride, The Skull, Bang, The Watchers and Iron Man to name a few. Hopefully we can get into town early enough to hang for most of the day. That’s one of the cool things about playing festivals like this – getting to see a bunch of rockin’ bands.

Your home-town of Texas certainly has a great upcoming Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal scene with loads of great bands coming out. You’ve produced and recorded a few of these cool bands over the last few years. What is the scene actually like in Texas. Is there a good vibe around the entire Rock/Metal community. What are your thoughts on the scene yourself.

Texas has a thriving scene of bands in the Stoner/Doom genre. I would say maybe one of the strongest in the US in terms of the amount and quality of bands from all over Texas. Austin has always had a great scene for this music with lots of support from fans and of course, a whole slew of killer bands, but the rest of the state I think is catching up to that. In Dallas-Fort Worth, even though we have a good scene of bands, it’s been harder to build a solid and supportive fanbase, but that I think is changing for the better a bit recently and Houston is definitely on the rise. 

There are so many great yet diverse bands within the scene around the state and everyone is supportive of each other as far as gigging and getting the word out. We’re doing this tour with The Well, who is one of the many bad ass bands from Austin, but from around the state there’s also Duel, Mothership, Switchblade Jesus, Las Cruces, Maneaters of Tsavo, Gypsy Sun Revival, Dirty Seeds, Doomstress, Blues Funeral, Amplified Heat, Crypt Trip, White Dog, Sweat Lodge, come to mind immediately.

It’s been a year since Midnight Cometh was released. Another great album that won plaudits all over the place. And your first for Ripple Music. Looking back were you pleased the responses the album received.

Very pleased. It’s always hard to know how an album will be received because it’s hard for us to step back and get an objective take on a record after we finish it. We felt really good about it but there are a few different things going on and ideas that we tried that. We weren’t sure if people would dig it or not. Ripple and their PR machine has done an awesome job with promotion for the record.

How are you feeling being on the extensive roster that Pope and Todd are currently building up.

That was honestly one thing we considered before signing with Ripple. We saw that they were making really good choices and building a really solid roster and I was thinking a couple years ago that they were a label on the rise for sure. It’s cool to be a part of the roster for sure.

Wo Fat have always known for being quick workers when releasing albums. Have you started work on the new album yet.

Ha! We’re a little behind schedule on this one. We have tried to keep releasing new albums or even splits every 16 months or so, but we’re still a way off form a new record at this point. We were so busy with other stuff for most of this last year that we just haven’t been able to focus on writing new material, but that is the plan for the rest of the summer after the tour.

If so what can people expect from it and when will it be out. Or is this too soon to tell.

I think people can expect some new sounds and vibes simply because of the high level of musicianship and the new groove that Zack brings to the table as a bass player and I think we all have some song ideas in mind that venture into different territories from what we’ve done before.

I feel like it may be a dark record though because it’s a very dark time for the US right now, and really the world as a whole.

You guys are now considered legends or elder statesmen of the Doom/Stoner Metal scene. Does it surprise you that upcoming bands hold you in high regards as major influences on their music.

That does surprise me honestly! It’s a humbling thing for me to think about. We have had the opportunity to meet and play with a number of bands that I still consider legendary, which has been awesome. But I also take inspiration from so many of the new bands on the scene too. It’s a good time for stoner rock right now.

You are part of The Planet Of Doom movie that’s being released next year. How did you become involved with that.

We’ve worked a lot with David Paul Seymour over the last couple of years. He did the album art for both Midnight Cometh and our live recording from Feak Valley Festival, Live Juju and he’s also done a couple t shirt designs for us so we’ve become friends and when he asked us to be a part it, we were of course “hell yeah!” The whole concept is so cool and being a fan of Heavy Metal (both the magazine and the movie) the idea of kinda recreating a similar vibe with amazing artists and bands is awesome.

I’ve spoken to a few bands about this already such as Vokonis and Slomatics. Have you seen the finished segment that you’re providing the music to. 

No, not yet. I can’t wait to see it though. The short clips that I have seen of the film look mighty cool.

Have you recorded a new song for the film.

We have. We actually wrote Of Smoke and Fog for the movie and we loved the song and how it turned out so much that we ended up putting it on the last record as well.

Well guys thanks for doing this interview. Much appreciated. All the best with the US tour. Before you go do you have anything to say to your fans.

Thanks for all that you’re doing to support the scene worldwide and get the word out about bands. It is much appreciated.

I’d like to also thank everyone that comes to shows and rocks with us. Hope to see you on the road:

Words by Steve Howe and Wo Fat

Catch Wo Fat currently on tour with The Well.

6-17 Blue Note – OKC
6-18 Riot Room - Kansas City, MO
6-19 Reggie’s – Chicago
6-20 Taps Live – Indianapolis, IN
6-21 Northside Yacht Club – Cincinnati, OH
6-22 Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
6-23 Bar Matchless, Brooklyn ,NY
6-24 Maryland Doomfest

Thanks to Curtis at Dewar PR for arranging this interview and to Wo Fat for taking the time out in doing this interview.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp

WO FAT - Midnight Cometh (Album Review)

Release date: May 20^th 2016 . Label: Ripple Music. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Midnight Cometh – Tracklisting

1. There's Something Sinister in the Wind

2. Riffborn

3. Of Smoke and Fog

4. Le Dilemme de Detenu

5.. Three Minutes to Midnight

6.. Nightcomer

Band Members:

Kent Stump - vocals & guitar

Tim Wilson - bass guitar

Michael Walter - drums

Review:

Swampedelic Rockers – Wo Fat return with their sixth album – Midnight Cometh. It sees Wo Fat return to their earlier blues rock based sounds though the heavy doomy psych stoner metal vibes from past albums are still present. With the guys now signed to Ripple Music from Small Stone Records, it’s good to see they haven’t lost their appetite for all things psychedelic.

Midnight Cometh includes the Wo Fat trademark style of epic spaced out trippy jams with doomy influences of things that go bump in the night. Kent’s vocals are strong as ever as he is in his element here. Along with the other members – Tim and Michael – Wo Fat never out-stay their welcome as they show the world who are the masters of Swampedelic Stoner Metal.

Opening track – There’s Something Sinister In The Wind – has a familiar sound and vibe from Wo Fat’s 4^th album – The Black Code. Though to keep things sounding fresh, the band have added almost psychedelic tribal noises to give this album quite a creepy feel. The epic jams soon come into play with great work from Michael on Drums and Tim on Bass Guitar respectively. If you’re here primarily for Wo Fat’s trademark epic jams then you’re in luck as the band play impressive epic jams for the final four minutes or so.

Second track – Riffborn – allows Wo Fat to indulge in more spaced out jams. The doomy atmosphere is layered with a psych blues sounds that is a stark contrast to the opening song.

Third track – Of Smoke And Fog – sees Wo Fat creating heavier sounds that are drenched in huge waves of psychedelic riffs and textures. This is perhaps my fave song on the album as it has all the trademarks for a classic Wo Fat song. Heavy spaced out riffs mixed with the familiar swamp based sounds from this Texan power-trio. It’s Tim and Michael who impress the most. They create stunning rhythms for Kent to build his riffs upon. Quite a hard task especially when this song runs past the eleven minute mark.

The second half of the album is equally as good if not better than the first half. Songs such as Three Minutes To Midnight and Necromancer sees Wo Fat looking back at their own musical past and blending it with the heavier sounds from their last two albums. Midnight Cometh represents the past, present and future of this great band as they’ve released another outstanding album of heavy swampedelic riffs for us to worship for a long time.

Some people may prefer their previous album – The Gathering and I will admit the music is more assessable on that album. However, Midnight Cometh has a doomier and slightly more gloomier approach to their previous albums. The one thing you can’t deny is, this is definitely the sound of Wo Fat and there isn’t a band quite like them around at the moment. Midnight Cometh is perhaps their heaviest, most far-out and doomiest album to date. Believe the hype, Wo Fat have created a MONSTER.

Words by Steve Howe

Thanks to Richard at Sheltered Life PR for the promo. Midnight Cometh will be available to buy on CD/DD/Vinyl via Ripple Music from May 20^th 2016.

Links:

Official | Facebook | BandCamp