They've been gone since 2002, but Spirit Caravan's mystical Maryland doom is still as potent as ever. Fronted by the indomitable Scott "Wino" Wienrich

(Saint Vitus,The Obsessed, Place Of Skulls, The Hidden Hand), Spirit Caravan was a more psychedelic outfit than the music he would later play in The Hidden

Hand, and the Sabbath influence in Wino's songwriting might be more prevelant in Spirit Caravan than in any of his myriad other bands that have spanned his

career. Spirit Caravan released two crucial albums on the Tolatta label run by Joe Lally from Fugazi, Elusive Truth and Jug Fulla

Sun,which both went out of print after Tolotta closed its doors at the beginning of the decade. In 2003 both of these albums were collected together on

this massive double disc set from MeteorCity, along with the three tracks that appeared on their debut 7" (when they were still called Shine), the two songs

from their final self-titled 7", the song from the split 7" with Sixty Watt Shaman, and the track from the Rise 13 compilation on Rise Above, and

this isn't an essential collection for just fans of Wino's ouvre, but for anyone into heavy duty, Sabbath-influenced psych metal. Wino's singing is like

early Ozzy but with about 100% more passion, and his guitar playing is some of the most soulful that you are ever going to hear, if you don't know that

already; just listening to him play on "Cosmic Artifact" and "Lost Sun Dance" sends shivers up my spine. The man had one of the most earthy, perfect guitar

tones ever, and when his amazing axework was coupled with the crack rhythm section of bassist Dave Sherman (Earthride, Wretched) and drummer Gary Isom

(Pentagram, Unorthodox, Valkyrie, Wretched, Iron Man), we had one of the best doom/psych bands ever, a spiritual, mystical hard rock outfit that left behind

some of the greatest heavy jams ever. Essential.