From the haunted ridges of Appalachia to the gator-choked gutters of the Gulf, Stumptail barrels down I-65 like a rust-eaten hearse on fire. Somewhere past the boiled-peanut stands and bottomless humidity, they stumble into the Floridian Poseidon, a swamp-god with a mullet, a beer gut, and a trident stolen from a pawn shop. Sonder down Yonder is the latest release from Stumptail, with their iconic fusion of heavy doom ladened black metal and a classic southern rock chaos that only this band can seem to pull off.
The album doesn’t hold back from the start. Bursting in with a chaotic fusion of rapid blast beats that transform into a warm southern groove that starts this hellish road trip off right. The band’s musicianship truly stands out under the Moonlight Cypress Archetype banner. The flawless cohesion of very different styles of music is truly genius and a stand out in the scene. There’s not many in the underground metal world that strikes that balance successfully, the closest I could think of could possibly be Panopticon but even then, they never went as extreme with the fusion like Stumptail has.
Sonder Down Yonder is a rather short album, sporting only 3 tracks of rather decent length, the band is able to pack each song with as much musical detail as possible, making it both chaotic and very entertaining to listen to. From the familiar Florida sounds of crashing waves and wind chimes to the incomprehensible language of southern hick-speak, little details like those is what makes this album so memorable to me.
It’s always an added bonus when you can feel the fun and excitement the band has in the recording of an album, and Sonder Down Yonder thrives on that reckless spirit. Every riff, every swamp-choked groove, every blackened howl carries the sense that Stumptail is grinning through the chaos, daring you to laugh, choke, and stomp along with them. It’s filthy, it’s feral, and it’s stitched together with a joy that makes the madness stick, proof that sometimes the darkest music is born out of the rowdiest kind of fun.