Band:	Shrinebuilder
Album:	Shrinebuilder
Style:	Doom metal, Sludge metal, Stoner metal
Release date:	October 27, 2009
A review by:	BitterCOld

01. Solar Benediction
02. Pyramid Of The Moon
03. Blind For All To See
04. The Architect
05. Science Of Anger

All-Star bands are a lot like All-Star sports teams. When you throw a bunch of all-star caliber musicians together, the expectations are ridiculously high, and the squad will either mesh together and produce something wonderful, or feature a bunch of "me first!" egocentric individuals who absolutely and catastrophically fail to come together and produce utter mediocrity. Or worse.

Shrinebuilder, comprised of Al Cisneros (Om, formerly with Sleep) on bass, Dale Crover (Melvins) on drums, Scott Kelly (Neurosis) and Scott "Wino" Weinrich (Saint Vitus, Spirit Caravan, The Obsessed and others) sharing guitar duties certainly qualify as an All-Star band. Each of these men has played integral roles in groundbreaking, trailblazing acts.

Fortunately, with Shrinebuilder, or WiNeurOmsis, as I have jokingly taken to calling them, all the pieces come together. Each of the musicians brings their own signature style to the table for this sonic feast. Scott Kelly's earthquake-inducing riffs, Wino's doomy stylings, leads and melodies, Al's tripped out lyrics and roving bass lines, all backed by Dale's fluid and fitting drum work. Additionally, Wino's soulful vocals, Scott's bestial roar, and Al's chanting style vocals all make appearances as well.

It's a giant stoner-doom-sludge gumbo.

While Cisneros might have been the lyrical contributor, most of the song structure and creation fell to the guitar wielding, riff generating Scotts. The interplay is enjoyable - egos were checked at the door and when one takes lead the other is content to play within their framework. You can pretty much instantly pick apart who contributed what. But it all works out, as songs do shift between the distinctive styles of the members.

For example, the first half of "The Architect" is clearly Wino's riff, and he takes vocal duties? then suddenly at roughly the halfway point of the track, Scott Kelly comes crashing in with a pummeling riff and his powerful vocals, before culminating with Wino playing a fantastic sounding lead over Kelly's crushing work, followed be a cessation of riffing/guitar allowing Cisneros to take center stage with a really trippy bass riff that is alien to the song, yet somehow fits.

Each of the songs shares similar ebbs and flows between styles, quiet mellow moments, crushing riffs, soulful leads, you can't really listen to one entire track and not pick out the elements of all those involved at various points. Perhaps the coolest sound bit in the album is the last couple minutes of "Pyramid of the Moon" which features Cisneros chanted vocals, with Scott Kelly and Wino playing a great riff which brings a lot of muscle that is not found in Al's drum and bass Om.

Finally Dale Crover, whose name has not come up much prior to now, deserves accolades for his performance - shifting to match the style of the riff creator, adding a little extra oomph when Kelly's gargantuan riffs are played to finding a way to just groove during the spacier Cisneros inspired passages. There was not a lot of "look at me" going on, but a great job to augment what was being played.

While it's not altogether groundbreaking in and of itself, and once you've heard the first couple songs of the five track, nearly 40 minute album you won't be surprised by any huge left turns, the truth is it's four guys with their own distinct styles who found a way to make it all work. And work well. If you are a fan of one or more of their full-time bands, it's definitely worth checking out.