Review Summary: Known for being apart of many awesome bands Wino ditches almost everyone else for a solo acoustic album that will surprise you if you're not ready
After 35 years of playing music one generally has a sound and style that becomes very closely associated with you. Scott "Wino" Weinrich has been playing doom metal for more than a quarter century now, becoming one of the most well known names and voices in that scene. Just last year he released his first solo album, a rip roaring electric album that may have been the best of his career. This year he released a solo acoustic album.
When I first heard about this release my heart both sunk and I jumped for joy. I was very happy because Wino is a truly consistent artist, all the bands he's been involved with have been classics. But I was really worried because what I read said it was an acoustic album. Whenever I've heard Wino or any of the 7 bands he's been in a large part of why I liked it is the denseness and darkness his guitar produces. Without electric guitars to be sludgy what will happen to our metal god?
The songs take over is what happens. Songs like I Don't Care and Old And Alone would be rather mediocre, generic songs if they were on an electric with a full band but when stripped down to a guitar and one voice the personalities of the songs come to the front. Old And Alone has some sensitive lyrics about growing old and having his children by his side while I Don't Care finds Wino quite ably filling the role of a curmudgeon set in his ways. A pair of instrumental tracks Suzanne's Song and O.B.E gives his fingers even more of a workout while on D-Bear he rants about how well humanity functions.
All these songs are all really great and different which makes it really hard to pick a favourite. Some are rather straight ahead folk pieces like D-Bear or the title track while others have some blues injected in, like on Old And Alone and Whatever. Mala Suerte has some fuzz on it but Suzanne's Song is completely acoustic. Both the opener title track Adrift and Hold On Love are great folky songs with intelligent, thoughtful lyrics. The lyrics on Whatever are the most personal I've ever heard from a metal musicians. It's not often you hear songs about their children and how much strength they can give us.
Wino's guitar playing is perfectly suited to a solo acoustic. The way he plays guitar on this album is a combination of lead and rhythm guitar parts with him playing everything. The only time there's another person in the mix is when a lead electric comes slashing through occasionally.
This is not folk music for the most part. Acoustic rock and roll with some blues thrown in and some light folk influence would do it more justice. There's too much force to how Wino plays guitar and the ripping solos point you back towards metal land. The few overdubbed solos that come from guest players serve as rocking out points and reminders about how talented these players are.
Wino almost always brings along some interesting covers. This time around they raise a question about giving metal an acoustic treatment. Songs like Motorhead's Iron Horse and Savoy Brown`s Shot In The Head probably weren't written on acoustics and certainly weren't performed on acoustics. Neither of those songs should work on an acoustic in this stripped down format but Wino's love of the songs come through and they just cook. Expect random lines from Shot In The Head like “I spent 22 years in a Rock and Roll band/And all I've got to show is a hole in my hand/Where my money has burned through” to run through your head for awhile.
In the past three years Wino has been ridiculously busy. He's put out two albums that are diametrically opposed to each other, started two bands and a solo career all while raising a family. No matter what Wino does it turns into musical gold. Who knew being Adrift could feel so nice?
