All of The Obsessed's albums are massive, obviously; The Maryland doom rock group cemented itself early on as one of the finest Sabbath-influenced outfits on the planet, thanks to the indomitable will, concrete-coated guitar playing and pure soul of frontman Wino. But their Lunar Womb is arguably the band's best. Definitely a milestone in the band's career no matter how you cut it. The Obsessed were originally formed in the late 70's and oddly enough found themselves at home in the nascent DC hardcore scene of the late 70's/early 80's, but the band went kaput by the middle of the decade and frontman Scott "Wino" Weinrich went on to front doomlords Saint Vitus during their legendary run in the late 80's. After his stint in Vitus, though, Wino resurrected The Obsessed and produced an eponymous album in 1990 and this, their sophomore release, which originally came out in 1991 through the shortlived but highly influential German record label Hellhound Records. In the years since, Lunar Womb has gone on to become something of a doom metal classic, housing the band's most focused album beneath the nightmarish cover art depicting Saturn Devouring His Children by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. The lineup for this album smokes, for sure...Wino was accompanied by bassist Scott Reeder (who would go on to play in Kyuss a couple of years later) and drummer Greg Rogers (later of Goatsnake), and the trio deliver a lean, powerful set of 12 songs, every one of 'em is memorable, and in my opinion this material stands as some of the best in Wino's catalog of music, which, as any real doom fan knows, reached across his involvement with Saint Vitus in the 1980's and Spirit Caravan and The Hidden Hand over the past decade. The riffs on Lunar Womb are weighty and hook-laden, firmly planted in the soil of post-Sabbath blues crunch but coiling out around more up-tempo shades of metal, circa the late 80's, as well as brandishing some psychedelic flourishes and even a dose of ripping hardcore punk with the minute-twenty blastitude of "No Blame". But it's songs like the album opener "Brother Blue Steel" and "Bardo" which make this album a slab of solid doom metal gold, with massive riffage, and inventive and oftentimes mindbending soloing from Wino. Out of print for years after the demise of Hellhound, Lunar Womb has been reissued by Meteor City with a brand-new design, lots of great photos of the band from the era, hefty liner notes from Joe Carducci, author of Rock And The Pop Narcotic and Naomi, SST, and All That....