Live At Roadburn 2009

Scott “Wino” Weinrich is one of the most important musicians in the US doom/biker-rock underground. His band the Obsessed was playing Sabbathian doom at the dawn of the ’80s, but went nowhere, so he joined Saint Vitus for several albums before reforming the Obsessed in the early ’90s. After running through several other band names (Spirit Caravan, the Hidden Hand) without ever really changing his sound, he finally went solo on 2009’s Punctuated Equilibrium. This album comes from the tour behind that record, on which he was backed by bassist Jon Blank and Clutch drummer Jean-Paul Gaster. The songs are fuzzed-out and headbang-worthy, set to a throbbing backbeat; Wino’s vocals are hoarse and vulpine, his lyrics incantatory and just vague enough to be compelling, but his guitar tone and his scorching riffs and solos are the draw here. Every song sounds pretty much the same, but it’s a hell of a song.