The math rock innovators return and pretty much throw the kitchen sink at it.
Barring a couple of singles in 2025, you have to go back to 2017 for a proper release from Wot Gorilla? Cult viewing since their formation near Halifax in 2009, the tracks on display here have taken a long time to settle. A number date back to the pandemic, including the title track ‘Stay Home.’ At seven tracks, and one of those just a thirty second filler, you might be tempted to call it an EP. The average run time of around six minutes a track definitely lifts it into album territory.
Math rock is a subgenre of indie and post-punk that revolves around complex and unconventional time signatures. It has its origins back in the 1980s with King Crimson and Rush. Battles are one of the most revered exponents in recent times, while elements of math rock can be felt in a range of current post-punk bands like Squid and to a lesser extent the likes of caroline in the Windrush Scene.
The is a lot of inventiveness on display here, you would hope so given the amount of time they went back and forwards on many of the tracks over a period of years. There is a crunching heaviness to the guitars on many of the tracks and shy vocalist Mat Haigh goes into a full on metal scream at times.
Sections are thrilling in the execution, in the vocal stylings they recall a number of strong US post-hardcore bands. As is the risk with math rock, at times it feels a little akin to prog-noodling and the end result can risk throwing you out of the track.
There is a short tour at the end of February and beginning of March:
SEE WOT GORILLA? LIVE:
- 27-Feb-2026 — The Rainbow, Birmingham
- 28-Feb-2026 — Voodoo Daddys, Norwich
- 05-Mar-2026 — The Blind Pig, Sowerby Bridge
- 06-Mar-2026 — Cafe Kino, Bristol
- 07-Mar-2026 — The Castle, Luton
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