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.

Sorrow Obsessed

New metal albums haven't been holding my interest too much this year. The few that I've checked out, have been good, but I've just not wanted to spend any time with them. So when I saw the new record from The Obsessed at one of the local record stores, I'm not sure why I felt the need to buy it.

I've never been a huge fan of The Obsessed. Nothing against them, I just haven't taken the time to really sit with any of their older records (even though my friend, Jeff, is always after me to listen to The Church Within). I did, however, enjoy their last album from 2017, Sacred, and actually spent time listening to it, so when I saw the new record at the store I figured that I'd grab it...even if I wasn't feeling the need to listen to it at the time. At some point, I'd be in that place, right? So I might as well buy it when I saw it.

The past couple of weeks have seen surprisingly cooler temperatures... strange for August, and it has started to feel a bit like Fall, and so when I saw the new record from The Obsessed in the stack of records to blog about, the time suddenly felt right. Man, I have been listening to Gilded Sorrow this past week and has put me in the mood for more shit like this.

Sacred Obsession

Even though I'm a big fan of Doom, there are still bands that are considered to be classics of the genre that I've never bothered to check out. Wino is undoubtedly a Doom legend, and has been in more bands and released more albums than I can keep track of...and the only thing that I've bothered with until now has been his work with St. Vitus.

When I was picking up the new Gruesome single, I noticed that Relapse also had a new record available to preorder for The Obsessed. Seemed like a good time to finally check them out, so I queued up the video for the new song Sacred...and then immediately added the record to my shopping cart.

This album plays tricks on me. On the one hand, I really like these stoner/doom jams...and then on the other hand, I'm thinking that the entire thing is too long, clocking in just under an hour. By the time it is over, I find myself thinking that I can stick in on a shelf and forget about it for a while....and yet when Sodden Jackal kicks the album off, I'm so impressed that I think I could listen to the album every day. Such conflict. Maybe I should start by taking the Thin Lizzy cover, It's Only Money, out of the rotation.

750 pressed on red with gold splatter colored vinyl.