I'm gonna be honest. It's been so long since I've done this that I've forgotten how to write. I'm struggling to even use capital letters and ***. It looks stupid, and it makes me look like I've got a stick up my ass. I'm writing this review so I can have a place to comment on this sweet record and say "m/" anytime I want. Can't do that if there's no review, and reviving Vitus threads to talk about any Wino project won't do, because there's more to that ***er than Vitus. Vitus rules, but before Vitus there was The Obsessed. These guys did not give a *** - long hair and heavy riffs in a time when punk ruled their hometown. Punk is, for the most part, whiny bitch music. People pretending to care about the environment and ***. Wino said *** that. The Obsessed was born.
Lunar Womb came after Wino left Vitus and reformed The Obsessed, and his creativity shines. The man's not just a great frontman with one of the most powerful voices in heavy music. He's got great lyrics, great riffs, great solos - everything rock needs. The music ranges from simple, driving numbers like "Brother Blue Steel" and "Bardo," to even some fairly complex instrumental jams, which you wouldn't expect from the man most famous for the simple, plodding doom of "Born Too Late." He's got Scott Reeder of Kyuss on bass too, whose thick and heavy bass sound gives The Obsessed something that Vitus never had. The prominent bass sound and the pounding drums of Greg Rogers give the band the vibe of the quintessential power trio - these guys studied their Blue Cheer records. And then some.
As a guitarist, Wino is one of the most talented guys around. He combines all of his influences into a near-perfect guitar sound - Iommi and McLaughlin being the most noticable (which is quite a dissimilar pair) with hints of Fast Eddie Clarke and Hendrix, among others, throughout. This *** gets heavy, but the man knows how to be melodic and drop the doom persona and write a ***ing song from time to time. This is what separates him from the doom and stoner scenes of today, made up of bands content on ripping off Sabbath and Melvins. But it's not referencing bongs that makes your music worthwhile or memorable. Wino gets this.
Listening to this album, I'm not really sure how this record or The Church Within didn't make Wino a celebrity. These songs are accessible and catchy, but still heavy and hard as ***. I mean, Wino should at least be Lemmy-status at this point, right? But it doesn't matter. *** it. This album is sweet.
