Obsessed

A split release between Southern Lord and the now-defunct MIA Records, this re-issued compilation (originally from 2000) features b-sides and rare tracks from the father of primordial Sabbath-y syrup, Scott "Wino” Weinrich, and the many incarnations of his first band, the Obsessed. The debut line-up with bassist Mark Laue and drummer Dave "The Slave” Williams offers the primitive "Sodden Jackal,” the punkish "Indestroy,” and "Iron & Stone” (debilitatingly covered by Foo Fighters and a pre-Probot Dave Grohl a few years back). Bassist Scott Reeder and future Goatsnake drummer Greg Rogers play on the crushing "Skybone” and Wino’s future band-dubbing "Spirit Caravan” (taken from Hellhound Records’ What The Hell! comp). When Reeder fulfilled his destiny by joining Kyuss, future Goatsnake/Acid King bassist Guy Pinhas arrived and laid down tracks that would become the 1994 doom classic The Church Within, from which sessions alternate takes of "Streetside” and "Mourning” are culled. Pinhas and Rogers further the rock on the unreleased "Yen Sleep” and brilliant "Concrete Cancer” (a live staple of Spirit Caravan), shimmering with Wino’s stellar soloing. The driving "Peckerwood Stomp” and a cover of Eric (Grand Funk Railroad) Burdon’s "Inside Looking Out” (taken from a rare Bongload seven-inch) precede a blazing Skynyrd cover, "On The Hunt,” with Melvins’ Dale Crover on second drums. The reissue adds three more cuts from The Church Within, the solid doom of "Fear’s Machine” (which would be recycled on ’99’s Jug Fulla Sun, Spirit Caravan’s debut full-length), the phenomenal live "River Of Soul” (original cut from their 1990 Hellhound debut), replete with Wino’s stratospheric solos, and the clincher: an old school B&W video of "Streetside” that will definitely appeal to MTV fans of yore. Though more material from their debut and Lunar Womb would’ve been better enhancements, Incarnate is quintessential now more than ever.