Wo Fat are an american stoner rock trio from Dallas, Texas. After forming in 2003 and spreading their psychedelic blues doom, they’ve released 5 albums, 2 live albums and 4 EPs they hit 11 thousand Spotify followers and roughly 23 thousand monthly listeners by January 2018.

Their music is really exciting and marks a big name in Texas’s rock. The Black Code, released in 2012 and is divided into 5 long tracks. The album’s tracks can be divided into 2 categories, the band is either jamming or riffing, and it’s honestly pretty clear to understand which one they’re doing at any given moment.

We start with “Lost Highway“, which starts with a slow jam that picks up at the 30 second mark, the tipping point is at 3 minutes and 55, we have a really cool riff as well as a new drum beat which will set off the tone for the album.

The following track, The Black Code, has a unique beginning spanning over the 51 second mark, the guitar drags with a really cool sort of slow jamming riff and then, at 51 seconds, the tone of the song evolves into a heavier but slower pace. The 5 minute bursts into an energy manifestation, feeling much different from the previous pace, as well as new rhythm and a pretty dope riff. We could totally put this part in the jamming side of things.

The third track, Hurt at Gone, is my favourite track of the album. It’s really energetic, heavy, very good drum beat with a cowbell. The initial part is very creative and while I can’t exactly describe this song as anything else, it’s important to note the use of this uncommon instrument, the cowbell, which adds to the variation and diversity.

The Shard of Leng is almost like a trip for the first 5 minutes. It’s much more open and patient than Hurt at Gone, starting with slower but great riffs which are mindlessly playing. These calm guitar riffs are being thrown left and right, sort of like a drifting guitar player mindlessly expressing his feelings. It has a very good chill part and picks up a proper rhythm after the 6 minute mark only to slow down shortly after. We then get some more riffs and vocals, followed by short drum solos until the 7:50 minute mark. At 7:50 it’s the culmination of all, the drumsticks start hitting something other than the drum heads, which I’m not sure what it is( it might be parts around the drum head), but it stands out. The following riff is hard and strong, and it has a really cool drumming, which gets more intense. At the 9 minute mark we have pure headbangers joy.

Sleep of the Black Lotus, the last song, starts slow but hits the bag at about 1 min and 30 seconds. It then introduces variation and we can hear some riffs which might be from previous songs in the album, or at least very similar. It has unique stuff but also the same stoner rock vibe than the previous tracks. Nothing really stands out.

The lyrics of the album mention the black code but they don’t actually form a specific and proper story, they’re just mindless lyrics for an album. There are mentions of ghosts, devil, a machine, a spirit inside the machine, a beast inside the machine and black code. Nothing too serious here. Now, regarding the vocalist’s voice, I can understand some people might not actually like it, it doesn’t sound awesome, but at least it’s different than most voices, so thats another form of diversity.

Overall, the album has some laid back grooves in the longer songs, as well as some pretty dope riffs and more energy on the shorter tracks. Wo Fat did a great job in The Black Code, it’s a pretty strong album that left a big mark in their career.