The Sonic Sofa’s New Music Payload for March 2023: Featuring Temptress, Bog Monkey, Skull Servant, and more…

We’re introducing the new “Payload” series, where once a month, The Sonic Sofa jettisons some of the heaviest and coolest releases from the past month straight to your ear holes. The reviews are quick so we can pack in even more jams. Click on links to support the musicians and use the built in song players to check out the bands while you read! Follow us on social media, let us know what you think of the The Sonic Sofa, and scroll to the end of the article for a free sticker!

Temptress release riffy debut album, See

Dallas stoner rock band, Temptress, released their debut album, See, on March 3rd. The Texas trio produces a grungy mix of stoner rock with plenty of chuggy riffs. The album features vocals provided by all band members, making for a diverse male and female mix, as well as some nice harmonies. See is available through Metal Assault Records and on Bandcamp. Check out Temptress if you’re into bands like Wo Fat.

New stoner metal from Bog Monkey

Bog Monkey are back with Hollow, their first full length record following their self-titled EP. Hollow is a riffy blend of stoner metal with aggressive vocals, tons of fuzzy guitar tones, and some awesome extended jams. The Atlanta, GA trio recorded their album at the Jam Room in South Carolina. It’s available on CD and streaming on Bandcamp. Check these guys out if you’re into bands like 10,000 Years.

Abanamat release trippy self titled debut

Abanamat is a Berlin-based four piece heavy-psych band. Their self-titled debut is mostly instrumental, but some tasteful, melodic vocals do come into play on a few of the tracks. Listen for lots of heavy blues jams, detailed heavy-psych audioscapes, and some awesome Middle Eastern influence, especially in the guitar leads. Check this out if you’re a fan of bands like Earthless. The album is on Bandcamp and pre-orders for CD and Vinyl are through Interstellar Smoke Records.

High and Low, groovy new stoner rock album by Eta Lux

Blending elements of stoner rock, doom, and psych, Germany’s Eta Lux produce music cram-packed with huge riffs and groovy stoner rock turnarounds. They’ve got a bluesy swagger, in-your-face vocals, and a cool overall sci-fi vibe. Fans of sci-fi rock like Droids Attack will appreciate these guys. Eta Lux’s new album, High and Low, is available on Bandcamp, on vinyl and streaming.

New music video from Poor Little Things

Poor Little Things has released a music video for their new single, One for the Road. The Australian band is a collaboration of Tina Jackson and Rollerball/The Marlboro Men guitarist, Dave Talon. The track has some brutal, 70’s-style metal riffs and some attitude filled female vocals. Check the music video, which has an awesomely retro Road Rash feel to it, and then go to their Bandcamp page to check out the rest of their releases.

Full-blooded, psychedelic doom from Hail the Void

Hail the Void is a psychedelic doom band from British Columbia, Canada. On their new album, Memento Mori, the band delivers a full-blooded onslaught of huge, slow riffs and tortured vocal melodies. Think Monolord level heaviness with the attitude of 1001 Mods and you’ll get the idea of the level of awesomeness of Memento Mori. The album is availabe on CD and vinyl on Bandcamp through Ripple Music.

Black Helium’s immersive new psych album, Um

London’s Black Helium have pushed the psychedelic boundary once again with the release of their beefy, 46 min EP, UM. The release has five impressively orchestrated compositions, transcending genres by blending space rock, doom, and heavy psych. It has an experimental sound with immersive psych textures. Black Helium is almost like if Black Sabbath and Tame Impala had a baby, and the baby was Elder, but from a different dimension. UM is available on CD and streaming on Bandcamp.

Skull Servant release Astral Apothecary

Psychedelic doom metal trio, Skull Servant, released their three song EP, Astral Apothecary, in March. The Chapel Hill, NC trio pack a witch’s cauldron of raw riffs, fuzzy bass, and occult lyrics into the release, and with track names like “Incantaion, Witch Fight, and Lucifer’s Reefer,” you know you’re in for a fun, wild ride. Check out Skull Servant on Bandcamp.

Anima, the new single by Sueños

Sueños is a psych rock group from Cape Town, South Africa. Anima is the first of a series of tracks that the four piece group have planned for release in 2023. On it, the band delivers a chill blend of flowing psych rock with a retro sound, enhanced by the fact that it was recorded live in the studio. Check this out if you’re into bands like Lewis & the Strange Magics. The group is active on social media.

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The Singularity: New album by Wo Fat

The Singularity was released on May 6, 2022

Wo Fat’s brand of heavy blues is guaranteed to blow your mind with their progressive style and spacy jam sessions. They set themselves apart from typical bands of the genre with their unique blend of groovy Texas stoner rock. Now, the power trio from Dallas is back with The Singularity, their seventh studio album, released through Ripple Music.

The band’s first full length studio album in five years, The Singularity is a worthy follow-up to 2016’s Midnight Cometh. It features gnarly cover art by Eli Quinn and is composed of seven tracks, clocking in at a beefy 75 minutes. Like the structure of most of their past work, the tracks are more like two songs in one. They usually open with a heavy, blues-based stoner rock song, before proceeding to melt faces with dynamic, progressive jams for the last half, with tons of heavy changeups, melodic sci-fi lyrics, fluid drum work, jazzy infusions, stoner rock turnarounds, and soaring guitar solos.

1. Orphans of the Singe 13:54
2. The Snows of Banquo IV 8:25
3. Overworlder 11:54
4. The Unraveling 7:42
5. The Witching Chamber 9:25
6. The Singularity 7:46
7. The Oracle 16:32

Personnel (Left to Right): Zack Busby (Bass), Michael Walter (Drums), Kent Stump (Guitar/Vox)

From start to finish, the album is an absolute head banger. Kent Stump provides muscular guitar riffs and, like Tim Sult of Clutch, knows his way around a wah-pedal. His heavy blues and progressive style at times remind me of Droids Attack, or possibly even early Galactic Cowboys. Stump’s vocals are aggressive and melodic, with occasional harmonies. On bass, Zack Busby keeps things solid with a beefy bass tone that is perfectly locked on to the drum work, while creating an incredibly perceptive compliment to the guitar riffs, and like Geezer Butler, isn’t afraid to explore the fretboard. Michael Walter provides a huge, driving drum sound with a fluid complexity that dances between time signatures and explores every aspect of the riff.

You can find all of Wo Fat’s releases, including splits and live albums, on Bandcamp. Their entire discography is available for digital download for under $54. The Singularity is available on CD and digital download for $10. The album is also available on color-splat or black double vinyl, though copies are sold out as of this writing. Check out their merch page for tons of cool t-shirts as well as copies of back albums.