Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich is one of rock’s great fringe figures. As the leader of Washington DC doom metal pioneers The Obsessed, he was bridging the nihilistic 33rpm grind of Sabbath with Motörhead’s speed freak attitude as far back 1980, and he’s got the cult cachet to prove it – if not the platinum records.
But even legends need to pay the bills, hence The Obsessed’s reappearance more than two decades after their last album.
Sacred picks up where they left off with 1994’s The Church Within, ramping up the grinding riffs and Wino’s tortured Ozzy-esque wail. You can smell the patchouli-soaked denim on Sodden Jacket and the title track, while their version of Thin Lizzy’s little-covered It’s Only Money shows nothing if not immaculate taste.
Those platinum records will remain out of reach, but a world with The Obsessed back in it is a good place to be.
