Wino's new solo album Punctuated Equilibrium is already one of the best heavy underground rock albums of '09 in my opinion, and Southern Lord has given the doommaster's album a truly deluxe vinyl release with this combination LP and 10" set. The packaging is absolutely beautiful, a heavy tip-on gatefold jacket with D'Andrea's gorgeous mystical artwork nice and large, a full color insert in one pocket, the 180 gram LP version in the other, and to top if off, this also features an exclusive 10" with four tracks that are not on the cd release. The ten inch is in a special customized pocket sleeve that is actually attached to the inside of the gatefold jacket, and these bonus tracks are as killer as anything on the LP, and include three originals, all heavy and proggy and with some awesome blazing synthesizer work on a couple of 'em, along with a stomping, soulful cover of Three Dog Night's "Chest Fever". Awesome!

If there's ever been a godfather of the underground Doom scene, it's Scott "Wino" Wienrich. Anyone that listens to doom metal and heavy underground rock probably has at least one album from one of his bands in their collection, and from The Obsessed to the mighty Saint Vitus through to his later work with Spirit Caravan, Place Of Skulls and The Hidden Hand, Wino's music has had a large hand in shaping the sound of heavy underground rock and metal. The abrupt breakup of The Hidden Hand in 2007 was a depressing turn of events as I had been a huge fan of the proggy direction that Wino's music was taking, but we finally have some new stuff from the master in the form of this new solo album, his first, as well as a new project called Shrinebuilder that has Wino playing with members of Neurosis and Om that will be releasing an album at some point in the next year. This solo album feels like a summation of Wino's career from the late 1970s through to the present, and there's something joyous in the way that these songs touch upon all of the different sides of Winos distinctive sound and his songwriting. Like with The Hidden Hand and Spirit Caravan, Wino is once again workin from a classic power trio lineup, here backed by the rhythm section of drummer Jean Paul Gaster (Clutch) and bassist Jon Black. Some of the riffs and songs that make up Punctuated Equilibrium have apparently been floating around in Wino's toolbox since as far back as the 1970s, according to the liner notes, and the ten songs touch on all of the different sides of Wino's music. There's the speed-fueled hardcore intensity of the title song that reminds me of how The Obsessed were able to effortlessly toss out a chunk of hardcore punk in the middle of a set of sullen, crushing doom metal, and the sprawling 70's style acid-metal and meandering Hendrix-style solo explorations of "Wild Blue Yonder", to grooving, wah-soaked doom rock and muscular riffing of "Secret Realm Devotion" (one of my fave tracks on this disc). "Smilin Road" is all heavy Southern blues-rock boogie swagger that reminds me a lot of the newer Clutch stuff, but then throws out some amazing ethereal solos at the end that have an epic prog-rock quality, and "Eyes Of The Flesh" is one the slowest songs I've heard from Wino in ages, a crushing dirge of grinding doom that Saint Vitus fans will flip out for. There are some cool tracks on here that throw out a little of the unexpected - the short, two minute instrumental "Water Crane" is a darkly beautiful glimpse of soaring jazz-fusion soloing over black tides of buzzing ambient distortion, almost Mahavishnu-like, and the instrumental "Gods, Frauds, Neo-Cons and Demagogues" combines a menacing, grooving doom riff with electronic noises, droning feedback, and a jumbled collage of soundbites from former President George W. Bush and other samples of right-wing media.

Fans of Wino's other band will hear elements of all of them on this solo album, but its clostest in feel to his newer, more proggy work with Spirit Caravan and The Hidden Hand. Fans of Wino in general though already know that this is pretty essential. Definitely a killer collection of songs from the doom legend, who by every right should be a housefold name in the metal underground. The disc is accompanied by beautiful artwork by the always-amazing David D'Andrea, whose mystical landscapes and floral hallucinations go nicely with Wino's heady, mystical rock, and the booklet contains cool linet notes written by Wino that discuss the songs and the creation of the album. Recommended!