STACK #256 February 2026

MUSIC FEATURE

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WOLFMOTHER WOLFMOTHER (20TH ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION PICTURE DISC VINYL) There’s nothing quite like taking home some fresh vinyl and putting it on the turntable for the first time. It’s a total experience. Each month we focus on a reissue, JB-exclusive, or just straight-up classic long-player to add to any burgeoning collection. Words: Paul Jones V I N Y L V I T A L

W ith gamers wrapping their thumbs around the brand-new Xbox 360, The Killers and Arctic Monkeys redefining indie, and a new website called YouTube launching for users to upload videos to, modernity was very much on the mind in 2005. However, a trio of musos from Sydney had other ideas with the release of their eponymously named album. In just twelve months, Wolfmother, spearheaded by the charismatic and chief songwriter Andrew Stockdale, had courted a record label and booked time at Sound City in L.A, the same studio where Nirvana’s Nevermind was recorded, to lay down an album. The result was Wolfmother , an album that sounded like it had punched a hole through time with riffs and sonic signatures unashamedly lifted from the dawn of hard rock. But this was no accident – the sound was all by design and at the core of the band. The music was shaped with weight and volume, recalling Sabbath’s early years, a nascent Zeppelin on its maiden flight, the amp hum of Hendrix – thick, fuzzy and in complete overdrive. At its heart is Stockdale’s soaring helium high-falsetto vocals. If you requested an AI platform to craft a voice by splicing together Robert Plant

This is a beautiful package containing two picture discs. Each of the limited edition picture discs features stunning individual art pieces drawn from Frank Frazetta’s famed fantasy portfolio. The internal gatefold contains further Frazetta artwork and a series of studio band photos. The track listing remains the same as the original release. For fans of the band’s first record or collectors, this is a great album to add to the collection. WHAT’S THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY ALBUM ALL ABOUT?

Wolfmother (L to R) Myles Haskett, Andrew Stockdale and Chris Ross

COVER CALLOUT

The striking front cover is a painting entitled “ The Sea Witch ” by American artist Frank Frazetta. Born Born

in 1928, Frazetta redefined fantasy art by making it visceral, muscular, and cinematic. His fantasy-themed sketches and paintings (Google The Barbarian, Death Dealer , and his Conan series) gave fantasy its modern visual language and elevated illustration’s cultural status. They influenced books, comics, films, games, and heavy metal aesthetics for generations.

and Ozzy Osbourne, this would be the result. Although it had a foot planted in the past, the record was

completely in the present. On Woman , the band pulled a monster riff out of the bag that showed the mid noughties how to rock again. Joker and the Thief is pure pedal-to-the-floor power, built for cutting through outback highways, while Colossal does everything it says in the title: a giant chunk of hewn stoner rock.

There are no sleeper tracks on it; no filler shoehorned into the track list to appease a running time limit. The record is gloriously excessive, where everything lives at eleven, and where riffs aren’t so much written as unleashed. In an era defined by studio polish and restraint, its simplicity felt thrillingly blunt – and remains so. Wolfmother didn’t reinvent rock music, but it did remind us that all it took was a great riff and belief to make it feel dangerous again.

TOP TRACKS White Unicorn

Joker and the Thief Woman

The band’s original lineup lasted only three years after their first album. Citing creative differences, bass and keyboardist Chris Ross and tub thumper Myles Heskett left in 2008. Andrew Stockdale remains the only original member in the band.

Wolfmother’s last album was 2021’s Rock Out . Stockdale will be leading a Wolfmother tour in 2026 to celebrate the 20th anniversary (well, 21st) of Wolfmother .

FAST FACTS

48 FEBRUARY 2026

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