Wino – Adrift

As he approaches fifty, metal stalwart and doom-progenitor Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich apparently fancies himself a singer-songwriter of the Cash/Dylan/Young variety. Three decades of noise-making in bands like Saint Vitus and latter-day sludge-metal supergroup Shrinebuilder have left quite a legacy, however, and the combination of heavy intent and acoustic delivery on transitional second solo album Adrift can wind up sounding uncannily like Tenacious D. 

His gruff vocals and maudlin blues shtick grows tiresome on the monotonous and dead-pan likes of Hold On Love and Old and Alone, with the pace benefiting from the bizarrely Eagle-Eye Cherry-esque Whatever. In a Venn diagram with Black Sabbath in one sphere and Woodie Guthrie in the other, occupants of the overlap might laud Wino’s efforts. But when a solo spikes from a cover of Motorhead’s Iron Horse/Born To Lose to provide the record’s most memorable moment, it’s hard to help wishing he’d stayed plugged-in. [Chris Buckle]