Church Obsessed

While I've enjoyed some stuff from The Obsessed, I've never been crazy about them. I've bought their last two albums, Sacred from 2017 and Gilded Sorrow from 2024, but I've never really spent much time with their more classic albums from the 90's. My friend Jeff, on the other hand, loves their classic Lunar Womb and The Church Within records. A month or so ago, I noticed that The Obsessed were playing a gig in New Hampshire at this place called The Stone Church. I did a quick search to see how far away it was, because if it was convenient I'd consider going. As soon as I saw a picture of the place, which looked like this perfect old New England church, I knew that I had to see the band play there. I quickly fired off a message to Jeff, and we made plans to go.

The Obsessed finished off a European tour in October last year playing just about everything off of The Church Within. I didn't expect that they would do the same for this latest tour, but since I was unfamiliar with the album I spent a lot of time with it in February. I was glad that I did because The Obsessed continued clebrating this record with their show in Newmarket, New Hampshire, and played nine songs from that album.

While I was just looking forward to a nice night out with live music, I didn't expect to be so excited with the show. There weren't a lot of people there, so I was able to easily step right up to the front of the stage... the sound was great and the band was tight... and within a few songs I was hooked and having such a great time.

Immediately after the set, Jeff and I were standing there at the merch table checking out what the band had available. I really wanted to buy something to support the band on the road, but I wasn't sure if I wanted a shirt from them. As we were standing there, Wino came up and was thanking us for coming out to the show. We started talking with him a bit and he was genuinely nice and appreciative that we were there (even if the photo makes him seem more annoyed with us). Jeff asked if he would sign a record if he picked one up, and Wino agreed. Now I'm not usually one that is interested in signatures from the band, but there was something about this moment that felt right, so I bought The Church Within vinyl and had him sign mine as well.

Goddamn. It is amazing how a live experience can change your perspective of a band. I've been listening to a lot of The Obsessed since that show and loving it.