V cover
Released

Legendary doom pioneers Saint Vitus were struggling in 1990. Dropped by SST Records, they signed with the German metal indie Hellhound for their fifth album, and after it came out, vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich would leave to reform his own band, the Obsessed. With Wino up front, Vitus were slower and heavier than with original frontman Scott Reagers; the occasional outbursts of punk aggression were replaced by a swaying stoner groove, as heard on songs like “I Bleed Black” and the crawlingly slow “Patra (Petra)” and “Jack Frost.” He also plays guitar here, though, and the difference between his fuzzed-out biker-rock leads and Vitus founder Dave Chandler’s low-gear riffage is most obvious on “Ice Monkey,” which could easily be an Obsessed song were it not for drummer Armando Acosta’s subterranean pounding.

Phil Freeman

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