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Wino, "A Bottle of Pills With A Bullet Chaser"
Temporary Residence has once again been the bastion of preserving little known music with this double disc compilation. Much like the disc by The Loved last year, this 2+ hour collection compiles every single track Wino recorded or released during their brief career. Although the band was responsible for a number of really good heavy scum rock recordings, I'm still wondering was reissuing all of them necessary.
On the whole, Wino could easily be lumped in with the post-Nirvana noise rock contingent that was represented by most of the Amphetamine Reptile label in the early to mid 1990s. The music is loud, crass, angry, and sloppy, all of which are very positive qualities. In addition, most of the pieces do have that certain guitar sound that many of the records of this era had, for better or worse. It’s not my favorite sound, but there is a certain nostalgia factor attached to it.
Many of the tracks, most notably "Red Wings" and "My House," feature that stop/start rhythm between screamed vocals and noisy guitar, co-opted from Big Black by way of Helmet. The similarly structured, but slower pace and more violent sound of "Heaven" resembles what Godflesh could have sounded like if they had gone more grunge rather than electronic/industrial in their career. "Glass Blower" also has a clearer reference point: the guitar tone is in league with Dinosaur Jr., but with heavily delayed and screamed vocals throughout.
The songs that step outside of this model are the ones that shine through. "Dutch Oven" and "Winner Takes Nothing" both clock in as sub-two minute rapid fire near hardcore punk blasts. The instrumental "Attack Utopia" has a slightly twisted surf guitar line and a slower, sludgy middle section. "Eon" is cheap keyboards, electronic drums and chimes with silly spoken word. The most bizarre is "Desperation," a track opening with chimes and bells, a bit of sax, and eventually becomes a mutant hybrid between metal and jazz, a fusion that Kevin Martin pioneered in God, though here more stripped down in comparison.
It is great in theory to have the entire band’s discography compiled, but the problem is there is simply not that much variety between songs. They’re great for sloppy, aggressive hate rock, but the songwriting here isn’t exceptional, so most of the songs neither caught my attention via catchy choruses, nor did they work in a cathartic, anger release way that their influences Swans and Big Black could have done. There’s some good moments in here, but there’s also a good deal of filler.
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