Flashback Friday: Noche Del Chupacabra by Wo Fat
“Swamp-doom” classic gets the remaster treatment
If you’ve ever wondered what it would sound like if a fuzzy-headed Texas trio decided to drag a Marshall stack through a humid Louisiana swamp, Wo Fat’s Noche Del Chupacabra is your answer. This 2011 release—recently polished up with a 2025 remaster—is a 45-minute rhythmic hypnosis session. It doesn’t ask for your attention so much as it pulls you into a lawn chair, hands you a packed bong, and invites you to watch the sunset through a haze of tube-amp heat.
The band operates with a “jazz mentality” applied to the heaviest blues possible. This isn’t about breakneck speed or technical wizardry; it’s about the “Riff” with a capital R. Guitarist Kent Stump, bassist Tim Wilson, and drummer Michael Walter specialize in a mid-tempo plod that feels like a woolly mammoth trying to walk in knee-deep mud. It’s heavy, it’s rhythmic, and it’s unapologetically Southern.
While the record only sports five songs, two in particular act as the structural pillars of this psychedelic temple… “Descent Into the Maelstrom” This is arguably the most “accessible” moment on the record, which is a relative term when your shortest song is nearly seven minutes long. It’s the best choice for those who need a hook to hang their hat on. The track features a flange-heavy bass line and a genuine chorus that you can actually remember the next morning. It perfectly balances the band’s tendency to wander off into the woods with a structured, crushing doom groove that keeps the listener from getting entirely lost in the weeds.
The closing title track, “Noche Del Chupacabra” is a 15-minute instrumental sprawl that serves as the album’s definitive statement. It begins with tribal, almost jazzy percussion that suggests the band might be headed for a campfire drum circle jam, before it inevitably devolves into a massive, space-faring psychedelic freakout. It gets my vote for the most compelling track on the record because it fully commits to the bit. It justifies its length by shifting through various movements—from “swampy blues” to “intergalactic travel”—without ever losing the core groove that Walter and Wilson lay down.
Noche Del Chupacabra isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel; it’s trying to see how much fuzz it can cake onto the wheel before it stops turning. It’s a masterclass in tone and atmosphere. If you’re looking for a quick radio hit, you’re in the wrong zip code. But if you want to feel like a “badder” version of yourself while nodding your head in a slow, rhythmic trance, this is a necessary addition to your collection.
The Album
Spotify:
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/noche-del-chupacabra-remastered-2025/1855377812