WINO - USA

WINO - PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM - SOUTHERN LORD  
Wino notes that his personality has been described as “punctuated equilibrium” and hence the album’s title given how this disc is the former The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, The Hidden Hand, Shine and Spirit Caravan singer and guitarist’s solo album. Quite honestly one cannot be certain what that description means - perhaps Wino’s friend’s are as high as the man himself - but whatever the meaning this record is an equilibrium between three parts stoner doom that the musicians is know for, one part late '60s heavy rock a la Amboy Dukes (no disrespect to Wino) and one part '70s rock a la Foghat (say). The music is half arrangements with heavy as lead riffs and half free-form unstructured clatter. This latter component sure brings the album down. It is as if the man abandoned any attempt to write songs and instead let a sort of musical stream of consciousness take over his addled mind. Acid jazz, anyone? In fact, the album’s cover artwork looks like it was something drawn for Cathedral that was left out in the rain and washed up into a jumbled mix. Never mind, first the song title Gods, Frauds, Neo-Cons and Demagogues shows signs of an active and intelligent mind and second there is enough Vitusian groove on this album to hold the fans at bay until the man's next band/project, which should be on its way in three, two, one... - Ali “The Metallian”

WINO - CREATE OR DIE - RIPPLE  
A few times listening to Create Or Die made me forget that it was supposed to be a metal album or by a metal artist. There is that much non-metal content.
The album's title is quite an artistic command and a suitably artistic cover artwork adorns the disc. It's like going to Tate Modern and having no idea what you are looking at. The music, though, is thankfully clearer. It begins with a little grunge, doom, Southern rock and heavy rock and occasionally feels like a jam with relaxed workmanlike vocals, acoustic strumming and shuffling drums. The first solo that comes in sounding entirely improvised, - I am sure it's not - basic and noisy. New Terms sounds like it features a tumba - not exactly well-miked - and banjo in a folk-acoustic ditty that comes with a hint of bluegrass. Carolina Fox is harder (or hard) and, sure, the stoner doom tag fits. The backing vocals are faint. Never Said Goodbye is relaxed, like an Alice In Chains tune could be. The ballad floats slowly. Then Hopeful Defiance is rocking and, in a surprise move, uptempo. A pattern of alternating heaviness and mellowness emerges.
Bury Me In Texas is a mainstream hit waiting to happen. It could have been a pop song on the radio from Neil Young. In fact, the song Noble Man could have been something from Neil Young's Harvest Moon. Lost Souls Fly is cool when it briefly picks up towards the end. Never Said Goodbye is the ballad slow rock floating out of the speakers.
This is genuine and relaxed by a man at peace with himself. Wino has been involved with metal bands in the past, but this hardly qualifies. There is even a line that goes something like '... break the chains of misery.' Here, the noble warrior sits on his hands and, basically, has no plans per se but just to sing his songs. - Anna Tergel