Keyboard warriors, warmongering politicians and wicked women, Scott “Wino” Weinrich has got a bone to pick with all of you. He’s also got a truck-load of doom-soaked, monolithic, heavy-metal riffs to unleash. On Gilded Sorrow (Ripple Music), the latest album by metal road-warriors The Obsessed, Weinrich is taking names and kicking ass and he’s got the band and the studio sounds to inflict some sonic damage.
In their off-and-on career (spanning over forty years, with Weinrich the sole constant) The Obsessed has always been a vehicle for Weinrich’s particular brand of dark and doomy, guitar-driven thunder. Black Sabbath associations will always be there, but Weinrich’s influences take in everyone from Frank Zappa, to Mahavishnu Orchestra to Gentle Giant. The outcome? Heavy metal that’s unapologetically rooted in the past, but never lacking in creativity (and big, swingin’ balls).
In the past, Weinrich’s vision hasn’t always been fully done justice, but on Gilded Sorrow he’s got a great band behind him. Aided by second guitarist Jason Taylor, there’s no shortage of satisfyingly weighty guitar lines. Tracks like opener “Daughter of an Echo”, the re-recorded “Yen Sleep” and the tongue-in-cheek “Stoned Back to the Bomb Age” are pretty irresistible, with the latter in particular showcasing some great guitar interplay between the pair, while “Realize a Dream” delivers great heavy metal, with the guitars, bass and drums all in-step and feeding the hard-rock beast (with Weinrich himself sounding just as raw and powerful singing over the top of it all).
Frank Marchand (who the frontman has worked with previously) is credited with having a major part in making the record sound so good (indeed this is part of the reason that the previously released “Yen Sleep” gets a reworking — Weinrich saw the opportunity to give the song the sound it previously fell short of in his eyes). Everything on Gilded Sorrow sounds big and beefy.
Outside of occasional breaks into simple hard rockin’ fun (like the bouncy “Jailine”), the tone is as dark and heavy as the music, whether generally moody (as on “Wellspring-Dark Sunshine”) or pointedly antagonistic (as with the almost funky “It’s Not OK”). Whatever lyrical jabs Weinrich makes however, what leaves the biggest impression throughout the record is just the overall satisfaction of heavy, guitar-driven music, made from a love of good riffing.
Musically, Gilded Sorrow is exactly what you would expect it to be: huge doomy riffs, locked-in grooves, assured lead-guitar work and gnarled, weather-beaten vocals. Sonically it might be the best the band has ever sounded. Lyrically, Weinrich lays out exactly how he feels about the state of the world today. Blunt, forthright and unapologetic to the last. He’s probably going to alienate you with at least one of his opinions.
In case you forgot though, Scott Weinrich is a genuine rock n’ roll rebel. If everything he said and did was agreeable, he wouldn’t really be much of an outlaw, now, would he?
Buy the album here:
https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/gilded-sorrow
8 / 10
TOM OSMAN