THE HIDDEN HAND (Divine Propaganda) LP/CD
This is the long awaited debut album of Scott 'Wino' Weinrichs new band, released for the European market on Exile On Mainstream Records and in the USA on Meteor City Records, and once again it's a powertrio, like The Obsessed and Spirit Caravan. I've heard a lot of rumours about the sound of the THE HIDDEN HAND. It's more aggressive and more prog, than his other bands and the direction is more political. Again, as in Wino's two other bands, he has found excellent musicians, who share his musical vision. This time it's bassist Bruce Falkinburgh from The Field Machine and drummer Dave Hennessy, who's playing guitar in the DC-based band Ostinato. After a lot of spins, I can't say that THE HIDDEN HAND are more aggressive than The Obsessed or Spirit Caravan, but a few of the tracks are a bit more complex, but nothing really new for those people who are listening to Wino's music since the early 80's.
Bruce Falkinburgh's vocals are very similar to Wino's voice and Dave Hennessy style is very dynamic and fascinating. For my opinion, "Divine Propaganda" is a typical soon-to-be-classic Wino album, though Falkinburgh has written half of the included ten songs, but one can't deny Wino's overall signature, not only because of his great voice and his significant style of playing. This is a very recommandable album, with some outstanding tracks, but in my eyes THE HIDDEN HAND aren't better than The Obsessed or Spirit Caravan. But it's great to see, that Wino finally gets more attention with THE HIDDEN HAND than in all the 25 years before. At least, a few last words to the political point of view of THE HIDDEN HAND: it's good to see, that not every US band drowns in a pool of stupid patriotism and this nerve-wrecking "war-on-terrorism" bullshit, and it's good that this band got a very clear standpoint and maybe it's an inspiration to a few of the listeners. For actual informations vist the band's website.
(KK)