For some reason I was not particularly hyped about getting this album, despite the pedigree. I am not a Wino sycophant and although I love Vitus, 'Lunar Womb' is the only album by The Obsessed that I own and it's a bit too bluesy for me. I don't have the Wino solo album either although one song that I heard was pretty cool. Also I am getting a bit fed up of hearing Scott Kelly's vocals this year. He crops up on 'Crack the Skye' and 'Axe To Fall' and while his gravelly croak always lends some leaden gravitas, it's almost too distinctive and detracts from the originality of the works by the original artists. Anyway this album is much what you would expect, and that's no bad thing. It essentially sounds like later Neurosis with some of the shimmer of OM and some Wino-esque bluesy solos laid in. On first spins the tracks seem quite samey but there's some killer riffs, especially on second song 'Pyramid On The Moon'. The 39 minute run time passes pretty quickly and makes it feel more like an EP, despite the lumbering nature of the tunes (and I mean that in a good way). Considering the epic sprawl of the contributing artists, the songs sound somewhat clipped and would have benefitted from some extra meat on the bones. An extra tune or some of expansion of the riffs wouldn't have gone amiss. Anyway, calling this album not-less-than-the-sum-of-it's parts is probably a tad pejorative. It ticks all the boxes and there is some stellar tuneage but it lacks surprises or any true wow factor that might have made it a stone-cold classic for me.
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