BEAT MAGAZINE
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
DECEMBER 2005 - JANUUARY 2006
Winterun
Welcome To…
(Independent)
GOLLY!: The sun rises over the smoke stacks of our industrial landscape, lending a perverse beauty to the very real future in which we live. A dwarfed copse of stringy, battling trees reminds us it is an organic world….a world that is hurting, but a world that will battle on. Life will survive. Beauty will persevere… Sorry, I’m a bit stoned… I just thought I would get into mode for the debut full length from stoner rock quartet, Winterun. Just what my red-eyed ramblings have to do with Winterun’s massive, balls-out sound is beyond me now… Oh yeah, the cover art… Fuck I’m stoned…Justin, can you do this bit….?
JUSTIN DONNELLY: Sure, Golly. Picking up where they left listeners last year on The Full Effect, Melbourne’s own earthy/70’s stoner rock crew Winterun return with their second full-length release Welcome To…. Once again, the four-piece crew concoct a heady mix of bass driven Kyuss riffs, Peal Jam’s atmospheric grooves (not to mention Nick Dunstan’s uncanny vocal quiver that immediately brings to mind Eddie Vedder in places) and stoner rock’s bluster on the nine tracks presented this time around, but with a maturity that wasn’t quite fulfilled with their debut……
GOLLY!: ….That’s so right, man. Vocalist, Nick Dunstan does sound like the bastard love spawn of Eddie Vedder, Lemmy, Danzig and Jim Morrison, while still retaining his own sound. I don’t know who the mother was (snigger, cough), but she did well to incorporate those four singers in her son. His voice is the gem in the crown that is Winterun’s sound….
JUSTIN: ….My turn. Leading with a huge sounding riff, Break The Black Box is a powerful opener that rocks big time with it’s fast pace and the heavy drumming dominance, while Downdriver, Lochran Aigh Nam Bochd, Space Jam and the catchy Beautiful Day slow things down just a shade, while maintaining the rocking appeal of the opener. A cross between Pearl Jam and Hater’s loose jam session styled dynamics are evident in tracks such as Sucker For Punishment, If Wishes Were Fishes and the lengthy Magic In Autumn, while the title track moves from it’s gentle easy start to turn into a fully fledged pile driving number to finish things off….
GOLLY!: ….Yeah, it absolutely rocks. These nine songs are some of the thickest, richest and rawest I’ve heard for a long while; warm, big, hard, rolling and just plain good. It is a mighty mix, one that would find a home just as easily with a stoned, longhaired mutant glued to his couch or with a speed-ridden Mad Max throwback in his hotted VK… and even in the ears of a few relatively normal people. Sort of like a massive landslide with smooth caramel in between the rocks, Winterun’s sound will caress and bludgeon you at the same time……
JUSTIN:…Ahem. Yes…as I was saying - although labelled a stoner rock outfit, Winterun seem to be slowly developing a sound that has the band moving further away from the confides of the said genre, and more into free flowing rock, with hints of stoner only coming through at certain points….
GOLLY!: …but, Justin, what I was trying to say that it is extremely hard to pick a choice track, man, because from the opener, Break the Black Box, this album is this big, beautiful, warm, dirty and full of….
JUSTIN: Apart from the rather boxed in sounding production, Welcome To… is an interesting throwback to a time when organic sounding rock (prior to being mislabelled with the overly used ‘grunge’ term) wasn’t a dirty word, and when capturing the moment took precedence over perfection. In that sense, Winterun are certainly a welcome alternative to the local scene, and Welcome To… and equally welcome change of pace to today’s current trends. Golly? Golly, you bonghead? Anything else…?
GOLLY!: (cough)…Wow, yeah, I do….The sun sets and casts its light through the sparkling amber beauty of my refreshing summer ale. The ships on the horizon are as inconsequential as the warmth of that colour. Light soaks through to my hungry eyes… Fuck I’m stoned (cough). At this point I will stop, as I’ve made sense to those who can understand me and those who don’t can go to www.winterun.com and understand for themselves. Three cheers for Aussie stoner rock. Welcome To Winterun. Get it in ya!
GOLLY!
JUSTIN DONNELLY
BEAT MAGAZINE ONLINE ORIGIONAL HERE
THEMETALFORGE.COM
DECEMBER 2005
Winterun – Welcome To…
Score: 9/10
Aussie stoner rockers crank it to 11
Melbourne (Australia) stoner rock quartet Winterun definitely put together a solid effort in their 2004 debut release, The Full Effect. Managing to blur the lines of rock, stoner and small elements of grunge, vocalist/guitarist Nick Dunstan, guitarist Guy Martin, bassist Gav Hayes and drummer Joel Schneidruk have returned with a rather quick follow up to The Full Effect with their sophomore effort Welcome To…
Simple dynamics are the key to the strong, catchy stomper of a lead track, Break The Black Box, and it’s instantly obvious that the band has found a rockier edge to their material compared to their debut. Not to be confused with the U2 song of the same name, Beautiful Day sees Dunstan letting lose some of those Eddie Vedder cross Glenn Danzig like vocal qualities before the almost Rage Against The Machine like opening riffs of Downdriver show another side to the band. The bass driven Lochran Aigh Nam Bochd is full of top class stoner riffs delivered in that true fuzz guitar manner whilst mixing in a little bit of rhythmic chaos that adds more weight and feeling to the track.
Sucker For Punishment has a loose, jam session type vibe to it initially before unleashing a jarring sequence of power chords that will definitely grab your attention. The solid If Wishes Were Fishes sounds a little Tom Morello like with the riffs but Dunstan’s signature vocals ensures the track continues in true Winterun fashion. The slower combination of the floating and appropriately titled Space Jam and the semi-swinging but not quite as loose sounding title track lay down more free flowing, unbound stoner qualities before the modern day equivalent of an early 90’s epic Pearl Jam track in Magic In Autumn rounds out the album in magic fashion, pardon the pun. Watch out for the brief instrumental jam that’s hidden in the final two minutes of this track as well!
Winterun have found more of a rock groove with this release as they bump things up a notch from their previous effort. They balance stoner and more traditional rock qualities that can only be described as Kyuss meets Pearl Jam. But this time there’s a touch of a Rage Against The Machine flavour through some of the riffs. It’s a unique combination and one which may perplex some. But if you’re a fan of any of those bands, then you truly should be investigating one of Australia’s hidden gems in Winterun.
Simon Milburn