The Hidden Hand
Mother Teacher Destroyer

Only a character like "Wino" Weinrich could have conceived an album like this. Not because he possesses artistic skills beyond the ordinary, but simply because "Mother teacher destroyer" is an album that carries with it the Weinrich style, something that many other small realities have tried to reproduce.

Lovers of doom, but more generally of metal, have learned to move him beyond that "niche" realm he has always inhabited, recognizing him as a true musician of the old school, of which we increasingly feel the absence. His fungoid nightmares continuously ebb and flow in various realities: first, he made a name for himself as the vocalist of a cult band like Saint Vitus, concurrently offering his services in "The Obsessed", not to mention his Spirit Caravan (with the jewel "Jug fulla sun"), Place Of Skulls, his solo career, and other collaborations and splits. Even The Hidden Hand was one of his projects, started in 2003 with the debut "Divine Propaganda", then followed by "Mother teacher destroyer".

The style, the genre towards which Scott "Wino" Weinrich has always directed his career is undoubtedly doom: not the romantic doom of bands like My Dying Bride or early Anathema. The music of the singer originally from Maryland has always been a doom more oriented towards a powerful stoner rock, deeply tied to the air of the American countryside. Epic and not only perfectly suited lyrics to the proposed music, lost seventies attitude: a perhaps niche genre but rendered absolutely fascinating by a character like Weinrich. For this reason, encountering his work is always an interesting experience from various viewpoints: even more so if what you find yourself listening to is something that expands the artist's boundaries. Indeed, "Mother teacher destroyer" (2004), while remaining anchored to Weinrich's typical stylistic elements, also stands out for a psychedelic sophistication that had always remained in the background in the past and had never been so emphasized. To the usual quality, here is added the variety and melodic flashes of songs like the dark "Black ribbon", the instrumental "Draco vibration" with its almost spacey echoes, and the general momentum of the splendid "Coffin Lily". These tracks alone are enough to show the full compositional ability of a living metal legend like "Wino" Weinrich. Furthermore, there are no lack of doom/heavy tracks so dear to the singer (here also guitarist) like the gallops "Currents", "Travesty us usual", and "Half mast".

Quality, atmosphere, "vintage" sound: everything needed for a "salamella"-style album is here (pardon me, Bartleboom). To say that by searching, digging through the underground and what are defined as "niche" genres, you can find things that put most of today's releases to shame. Long live "Wino".

1. "The Crossing" (4:34)
2. "Half Mast" (3:56)
3. "Desensitized" (6:30)
4. "Draco Vibration" (2:42)
5. "Black Ribbon" (3:40)
6. "Magdalene" (4:35)
7. "Currents" (5:25)
8. "Travesty Us Usual" (4:57)
9. "Coffin Lily" (3:30)
10. "Sons Of Kings" (4:42)
11. "The Deprogramming Of Tom Delay" (3:32)