Biker metal, doom metal, stoner metal…whatever metal subgenre in which you wish to place him, Scott “Wino” Weinrich has been at the forefront of it for over thirty years. The unmistakable rasp of his vocals and thick, fuzzy Gibson guitar tone have spearheaded bands ranging from Saint Vitus to Spirit Caravan to Probot, but for many his crowning achievement (and most accessible one) was The Church Within, the last album he created with his first band, THE OBSESSED. Released via Columbia in 1994 (Wino’s lone major label release), The Church Within features the dark vision and crushing, slow-motion riffs beloved by fans of Black Sabbath, but the driving intensity and atonal guitar solos recall Motörhead and Black Flag, respectively; in short, this album transcends genre classifications even as it defines them.
Now, for the first time, this lost classic of ’90s metal is being reissued by Real Gone Music on CD and double 180-gram gatefold vinyl with two bonus tracks — the single, “Mental Kingdom,” and the unreleased number, “Melancholy Grey” — added photos, the original album art with lyrics and a new note from Wino himself. Everyone from Henry Rollins to Dave Grohl to Ian MacKaye has sung Wino’s praises…time to join the chorus.
Comments Weinrich of the reissue: “The Church Within describes my philosophy on being; it’s really not what’s around you — man made denominations, expectations of others — but what’s in your heart, exaltation of spirit and freedom of soul. This record was the culmination of a lot of inspiration, frustration, ecstasy, anger, hope and futility. Its resurrection is testimony to the relevance of this music in our lives past and present, thank you…for believing.”
The Church Within Track Listing:
1.To Protect And To Serve
2. Field Of Hours
3. Streamlined
4. Blind Lightning
5. Neatz Brigade
6. A World Apart
7. Skybone
8. Streetside
9. Climate Of Despair
10. Mourning
11.Touch Of Everything
12. Decimation
13. Living Rain
Bonus Tracks
14. Mental Kingdom (1994 Version)
15. Melancholy Grey (1994 Version — Unreleased)
THE OBSESSED‘s The Church Within will be reissued via Real Gone Music November 25. Preorder your copy via Amazon at THIS LOCATION or through a record store near you on LP HERE or CD HERE.
Real Gone Music, formed and helmed by industry vets Gordon Anderson and Gabby Castellana, is an eclectic and prolific catalog and reissue label with distribution through Sony via Razor & Tie. Anderson and Castellana each started businesses in 1993 — Collectors’ Choice Music and Hep Cat Records & Distribution, respectively — that became two of the most important outlets for buyers and sellers of vintage music recordings. They joined forces in 2011 to launch Real Gone Music, which serves both the collector community and the casual music fan with a robust release schedule combining big-name artists with esoteric cult favorites. Real Gone Music is dedicated to combing the vaults for sounds that aren’t just gone – they’re REAL gone.
Hi-Res/lo-res cover art can be downloaded at: http://www.realgonemusic.com/b2b.