Album Review: Wo Fat - The Singularity
Reviewed by Richard Oliver
Stoner doom metal is a genre I have a bit of a love hate relationship with. For every band that knocks it out of the ball park there are a multitude of fourth rate Electric Wizard worship bands who make stoner and doom metal a tad tedious. When you do find the right bands though and a killer album this genre produces some of the best heavy music on offer. Wo Fat are a band that can be relied on to provide some good listening and with their new album The Singularity that is very much the case.
Wo Fat formed in Dallas, Texas in 2003 and have a style that mixes heavy psych, stoner rock and doom metal together in fabulous fashion. Now on their seventh album, Wo Fat have released what they coin their most adventurous and exploratory album yet and whilst the key elements of what has encompassed Wo Fat on previous albums is ever present, there is a far biggest psychedelic element that comes to play with a far looser playing style and a feeling that the band are simply jamming and seeing where the music goes. This does result in a whopper of an album with seven songs spread across nearly 76 minutes. These extended psychedelic jams can either be a journey or test your patience depending on your perspective and attention span.
Album opener Orphans Of The Singe and album closer The Oracle utilise this more experimental style mixing progressive and trippy jams with groove filled riffs. They both happen to be the longest songs on the album as well ranging from between 14-17 minutes.. Aside from these extended jam sessions there are riffs and they are rich and plentiful with plenty of that fuzzed out groove that one would expect from Wo Fat such as in Overworlder which is 11 minutes of killer riffs and wondrous groove whilst The Unraveling is the most straightforward stoner metal song here with more great riffs and an upbeat feel to it. Another highlight is The Witching Chamber which is the song that perfectly mixes both the psychedelic and doomy elements together in 9 and a half minutes of fuzzed out glory.
Despite the psychedelic jam session moments dragging on a bit too long this album is fully redeemed by the sheer bombardment of awesome riffs that Wo Fat deliver in spadefuls. There is only so much that can be done within the confines of the stoner/doom genre but Wo Fat are masters of their craft and have delivered an absolutely brilliant album with The Singularity. If you have a short attention span then you might struggle a bit with certain songs but those riffs are damn well worth it.
