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© TO THE OWNERS AND COPYRIGHT HOLDERS: I want to clarify that all the music used in the uploaded videos belongs to their respective owners: my channel does not monetize and it is not my intention to violate copyright, but if the copyright holders (label or musicians) want one of my videos to be removed, first to take any action, please contact me (via comments or personal messages) so that I can delete it immediately. ***** Scott “Wino“ Weinrich represents one of the purest examples of a musician dedicated to a genre that belongs to him because it is part of his soul (tormented like all those of those who never compromise). The spotlights that light up on his figure are not those of the important proscenium: the stages that welcome him and his bands are those of small theaters, provincial clubs in suburban neighborhoods. It is on those boards that he expresses his art, capable of recovering from ruinous falls (convictions for armed robbery and arrests for possession of illicit substances) always finding strength in his music: doom. Today we talk about his band from which it all began, The Obsessed already walking around the US stages since 1976 (albeit with the original Warhorse moniker) and who, nine years after their birth, had not yet managed to release the first full length. The self-titled album was officially released in 1990, five years after the date of conception because Metal Blade, after signing the band for an appearance on “Metal Massacre vol. 6“, had realized that in the thrash and speed scene a proposal like that of The Obsessed risked going out of focus with respect to the average target of the stars and stripes metal consumer of the time, thus choosing to give up the already planned release of the album . If we add to this the evolutions of Wino's artistic career, who in 1985 left the East Coast to land in the City of Angels, taking a seat at the microphone of Saint Vitus instead of Scott Reagers in view of the release of “Born Too Late“, we realize account of how this debut seriously risked never seeing the light. But in 1990, Saint Vitus passed in the meantime with Hellound Records, just before the beginning of the recordings of “V“ the new label became aware of the material lying in some dusty cellar and offered Wino to publish the by now seasoned work. Undoubtedly the band should consistently be traced back to the great traditional doom trend; but, if Pentagram and Saint Vitus can embody the role of faithful Sabbathian disciples to The Obsessed, it is rather the role of partially naughty pupils, irresistibly attracted by experimentations and contaminations without ever really abandoning the path started by Black Sabbath. Here then is that massive doses of hard rock and blues creep into the album, but also surprising concessions to the post punk tradition, all centrifuged properly thanks to the boundless vocal potential of Wino who here integrates the microphone test with an equally convincing performance in the six-string handling. The classic doom lacks the propensity to build really dark and imposing structures, but the result is still a doom made of anger, alcohol and nicotine (... even Motörhead among the potential sources of inspiration?!?). It's not just the darting and nervous “Fear Child“ and “Inner Turmoil“ or the martial tolls of a “The Way She Fly“ that strike for the imbalance on the impact side, but, more generally, it's the whole tracklist to reward the immediacy of surrender. There is no shortage of more reflective episodes (the singsong blues melody of the opener “Tombstone Highway“ with its references to the mystique of traveling over great distances typical of seventies culture) or in which a vaguely desert aftertaste appears to instill stoner reflections (“Ground Out“ and “Forever Midnight“), as well as just hinted psychedelic ripples (“Red Disaster“), but to grasp the true doom heart of the album you have to get practically to the final track: more suffocating than obscure, monumental in gait but almost suspended in a sort of mysterious melancholy (Wino's voice competes here with the best evidence of Ozzy), unbalanced on the atmospheric side but able to close with a riff at lightning speed, “River of Souls“ certainly deserves a prominent place among the great songs of the genre and reminds us why The Obsessed have never left the radar of longtime doomsters. In 2017 the self-titled album, which had disappeared from the markets for over twenty years, was re-released by Relapse Records with the addition of the unreleased demo “Concrete Cancer“ and several live tracks from 1985. The Obsessed, Scott “Wino“ Weinrich, his voice, his guitar and his faithful friends: some are gone, others still follow him … always a few … the best! 00:00 Tombstone highway 03:29 The way she fly 05:51 Forever midnight 10:51 Ground out 14:09 Fear child 16:02 Red disaster 19:54 Inner turmoil 22:16 River of soul Scott “Wino“ Weinrich – vocals and guitar Mark Laue – bass Ed Gulli – drums
