Review: Wino ‘Create Or Die’
Chances are if you’re reading this review, or The Sleeping Shaman in general, the man known as Wino needs no introduction, but for the uninitiated, I’ll offer a brief history.
Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich is an American guitarist and vocalist from Maryland who’s been active since the late ’70s. He founded one of the original doom metal bands, The Obsessed, before making his way to Los Angeles to front SoCal doom originators, Saint Vitus.
He then formed Spirit Caravan and The Hidden Hand, while also serving as a member of stoner/doom metal ‘supergroup’ Shrinebuilder. The veteran musician even participated in Dave Grohl’s metal project Probot, eventually relaunching The Obsessed with 2017’s Sacred and last year’s Gilded Sorrow.
Wino has released three albums of solo material, while also collaborating with German ‘doom folk’ artist Conny Ochs to create introspective, dark, acoustic music. So, to say he is a restless, prolific, underground legend would be a massive understatement, while also doing a disservice to his generational influence.
So, I can’t say I was surprised to see his latest solo album, the aptly titled Create Or Die, follow so quickly on the heels of Gilded Sorrow. Released on Ripple Music, it showcases many different facets of the man’s legendary career.
Opener, Anhedonia, which shows off both Wino’s instantly recognizable guitar tone and voice, is a bit of an introspective rocker. Bolstered by an awesome, snappy, behind-the-beat swing on drums, he tells his road-weary tale, while also effortlessly unleashing some of his one-of-a-kind, vicious shred. First single New Terms is an awesome melding of Americana acoustic storytelling and Irish folk.
Evidently engineer and producer Frank ‘The Punisher’ Marchand, not just to Wino, but many other Maryland/Washington DC area bands, steered him toward incorporating a traditional Irish banjo and bodhrán drum. They were aided in this quest by We Banjo Three, a traditional Irish Folk band Marchand has previously worked with.
The end result is timeless, acoustic storytelling that recalls the best of old-school, American singer-songwriters. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he possesses just the type of voice that will undoubtedly make a track like this stand the test of time. Carolina Fox follows, and this time sees him reaching for his trusty Les Paul, as this is one of his patented, low-and-slow, chugging, doom rockers.
Create Or Die is a fantastic aural summation of Wino and his musical legacy and adds yet another classic record to his legendary discography…
Never Said Goodbye sounds exactly like what we’d expect with a title like that. It’s a melancholic, lost-love track, made all the more impactful with world-weary, sorrowful vocals. Meanwhile, Hopeful Defiance cleanses the emotional palette with its driving riffage and killer drumming, reminding me a bit of the delivery on his first solo LP, 2009’s Punctuated Equilibrium. There’s also plenty of fuck-the-man lyrics as he proffers one of his favorite conspiracy theories, straight from the Covid-era, with lines like ‘I won’t wear your mask, just to walk outside my door’.
Us Or Them is a downcast, mid-tempo marcher, while Cold And Wrong, veers back into acoustic, Americana territory, thus unveiling a bit of a pattern throughout Create Or Die as Wino alternates between riff-centric doom-ish rockers and back-porch, Appalachian acoustic folk. However, on Lost Souls Fly, Wino ventures into cosmic, spaced-out psych that he rides for the first six minutes, before blasting off to Mars on the outro.
The penultimate Bury Me In Texas also sounds like the title as he lets loose with an introspective southern riff accompanied by a lazy drum swing, and some awesome steel guitar noodling, that sounds like the acoustic-doom equivalent of the sun setting in the southwest United States. The album reaches its conclusion with Noble Man, which is, fittingly, another acoustic, road-weary screed against the forces that be, while also perhaps being self-descriptive.
Over the decades, I’ve had my various phases with Weinrich and his music, as it goes without saying he is an absolute godfather of not only American doom metal, but doom metal in general. I consider the records he released with The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, and The Hidden Hand to be among some of my all-time favorites, even if I haven’t always been on board with his politics. His no-bullshit attitude, going all the way back to his earliest days with The Obsessed earned him the respect of the entire DC hardcore scene, while also doing the same with Saint Vitus in Southern California.
He has aged relatively gracefully, leaning into his role of elder, and peerless raconteur of stoner rock and doom metal, while continuing to release killer, vital music on a regular basis. Create Or Die is a fantastic aural summation of Wino and his musical legacy and adds yet another classic record to his legendary discography. Create Or Die indeed.
Label: Ripple Music
Band Links: Official | Spotify | Instagram
Scribed by: Martin Williams
