The Obsessed

The Obsessed
The Obsessed
	The Obsessed performing in Germany in 2023
Background information
Also known as	Warhorse (1976–1979)
Origin	Potomac, Maryland, U.S.
Genres	Doom metal; heavy metal; stoner metal;
Years active	1979–1986; 1989–1995; 2011–2013; 2016–present;
Labels	Hellhound; Columbia; Southern Lord; MeteorCity; Tolotta; Relapse; Ripple Music;
Members	Scott "Wino" Weinrich; Brian Costantino; Chris Angleberger; Jason Taylor
Past members	Mark Laue; Dave Williams; Ed Gulli; Scott Reeder; Greg Rogers; Guy Pinhas; Dave Sherman; John Reese; Bruce Falkinburg; Reid Raley; Brian White

The Obsessed is an American doom metal band from Potomac, Maryland, led by Scott "Wino" Weinrich.^[1] Formed in 1979,^[2] they recorded a few demos and played a handful of live shows until they first split up in 1986 when Weinrich joined as lead vocalist for Saint Vitus.^[3] About two years before his departure from Saint Vitus, Weinrich reformed The Obsessed in 1989, and three studio albums − The Obsessed (1990), Lunar Womb (1991) and The Church Within (1994) − were released before disbanding for the second time in 1995.^[3]^[4] After reuniting for occasional live shows between 2011 and 2013, the band announced a permanent reunion in March 2016, and has since released two more studio albums: Sacred (2017) and Gilded Sorrow (2024).

History

Early career (1976–1985)

The band formed originally under the name "Warhorse" in 1976 in Potomac, Maryland, led by Wino. In the late 1970s, Wino's band became known as the Leather Nunz. The band played original punk tunes with singer Billy Beam, Jeff Urban on drums, Robert Krug on rhythm guitar and Mark Laue on bass.

Later on, a new more focused and improved group moved into a band house in Rockville, Maryland and renamed the Obsessed, where some of their most creative and hardest music was written. Before this move, however, original guitar player John Reese and Davey WIlliams on drums departed from the band. The band became a trio and remained that way until 1982 when Vance Bockis and later Norman Lawson joined the band.^[3] During this time they released the Sodden Jackal EP (spring 1983) and had one track ("Concrete Cancer") featured on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre VI. The Obsessed also managed to record their debut album in 1985 for Metal Blade, but it never officially surfaced.

Splits, first reunion and aftermath (1986–2010)

The band broke up in the late 1980s and Wino went west to California to join up with Saint Vitus.^[3] Wino recorded three albums, an EP, and a live album with Saint Vitus. Around 1989, the Obsessed reformed and signed to Hellhound Records (Vitus's then current label), which released The Obsessed (originally recorded in 1985) in the following year.^[4] This prompted Wino to leave Vitus and focus on the Obsessed full-time, with a new rhythm section consisting of Scott Reeder and Greg Rogers.^[3] The band was quickly signed to Hellhound Records and soon released Lunar Womb.^[3] Scott Reeder later left to join Kyuss, whereupon he was replaced by Guy Pinhas.^[3] After the addition of Pinhas, the Obsessed signed with Columbia Records, through which they released their third album The Church Within to strong critical reviews.^[3] To promote The Church Within, the band toured as an opening act for Entombed and Unsane during the first part of 1994. Despite the tour, as well as a large amount of promotion on behalf of Columbia Records (including a 25-minute documentary on the history of the Obsessed), the album did not sell as well as expected. After the demise of the Obsessed, Wino went on to form Shine which changed name to Spirit Caravan and more projects before reuniting with Saint Vitus in 2003 (and again in 2008), while the Obsessed's rhythm section became the basis for Goatsnake.

Reunions (2011–present)

In September 2011, the Roadburn Festival announced that The Church Within lineup (featuring Wino, Greg Rogers and Guy Pinhas) would be reuniting to play their next edition on April 14, 2012. The band later confirmed they would be performing at the Hellfest Open Air 2012. The band performed yet another reunion show at Maryland Death fest XI in May 2013 featuring Wino, Greg Rogers and Reid Raley.

TKO Records re-released the self-titled 7" on November 23, 2012.

Wino announced the full-time return of the Obsessed in March 2016 and the band's official signing to Relapse Records to record the follow-up to The Church Within. The new lineup originally consisted of Spirit Caravan bassist Dave Sherman and Wino's longtime friend and former road crew member Brian Costantino (drums). On October 31, 2016, Wino announced that The Obsessed would test the waters for the remainder of 2016 by adding Bruce Falkinburg on bass and Seraphim on guitar, making this the first time in over 35 years that the Obsessed have been a four piece band.

In April 2017, the band released Sacred, their first studio album in 23 years. Their next album, Gilded Sorrow, was released on February 16, 2024.^[5]^[6]

Members

Current

Scott "Wino" Weinrich – lead guitar, lead vocals (1980–present)
Brian Costantino – drums, backing vocals (2016–present)
Chris Angleberger – bass (2022–present)
Jason Taylor – rhythm guitar (2022–present)

Former

John Reese – rhythm guitar (1979–1982)
Vance Bockis – vocals (1979–1983)
Dave Williams – drums (1979–1983)
Mark Laue – bass (1979–1986)
Ed Gulli – drums (1984–1986)
Scott Reeder – bass (1990–1992)
Greg Rogers – drums (1990–1995)
Guy Pinhas – bass (1992–1995)
Reid Raley – bass (2013–2015, 2017–2019)
Dave Sherman – bass, backing vocals (2016); died 2022
Bruce Falkinburg – bass, backing vocals (2016); died 2022
Brian "Wendy" White – bass (2019–2022)

Timeline

<timeline> ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1979 till:05/31/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy

Colors =

 id:Vocals          value:red        legend:Lead_vocals,_lead_guitar
 id:BVocals         value:pink       legend:Backing_vocals
 id:Rhythm          value:green      legend:Rhythm_guitar
 id:Bass            value:blue       legend:Bass
 id:Drums           value:orange     legend:Drums
 id:Demo            value:gray(0.75) legend:Demo
 id:Studio          value:black      legend:Studio album

Legend = orientation:horizontal position:bottom

ScaleMajor = increment:5 start:1979 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1981

LineData =

 at:10/01/1980 color:Demo   layer:back
 at:05/01/1982 color:Demo   layer:back
 at:03/01/1985 color:Demo   layer:back
 at:05/01/1990 color:Studio layer:back
 at:04/01/1991 color:Studio layer:back
 at:03/01/1994 color:Studio layer:back
 at:04/07/2017 color:Studio layer:back
 at:02/16/2024 color:Studio layer:back

BarData =

 bar:Weinrich  text:"Scott Weinrich"
 bar:Taylor    text:"Jason Taylor"
 bar:Mark      text:"Mark Laue"
 bar:Scott     text:"Scott Reeder"
 bar:Guy       text:"Guy Pinhas"
 bar:Reid      text:"Reid Raley"
 bar:Dave      text:"Dave Sherman"
 bar:White     text:"Brian White"
 bar:Chris     text:"Chris Angleberger"
 bar:Ed        text:"Ed Gulli"
 bar:Greg      text:"Greg Rogers"
 bar:Brian     text:"Brian Costantino"

PlotData=

 width:11 textcolor:red align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Weinrich from:01/01/1979 till:02/01/1986 color:Vocals
 bar:Weinrich from:01/01/1979 till:02/01/1986 color:Rhythm width:3
 bar:Weinrich from:08/01/1979 till:03/01/1995 color:Vocals
 bar:Weinrich from:08/01/1979 till:03/01/1995 color:Rhythm width:3
 bar:Weinrich from:09/01/2013 till:12/31/2015 color:Vocals
 bar:Weinrich from:09/01/2013 till:12/31/2015 color:Rhythm width:3
 bar:Weinrich from:03/01/2016 till:end        color:Vocals
 bar:Weinrich from:03/01/2016 till:01/01/2022 color:Rhythm width:3
 bar:Taylor   from:01/01/2022 till:end        color:Rhythm
 bar:Mark     from:01/01/1979 till:02/01/1986 color:Bass
 bar:Scott    from:08/01/1990 till:06/01/1992 color:Bass
 bar:Guy      from:06/01/1992 till:03/01/1995 color:Bass
 bar:Dave     from:01/01/2016 till:08/15/2016 color:Bass
 bar:Dave     from:01/01/2016 till:08/15/2016 color:BVocals width:3
 bar:Reid     from:09/01/2013 till:12/31/2015 color:Bass
 bar:Reid     from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2019 color:Bass
 bar:White    from:01/01/2019 till:01/01/2022 color:Bass
 bar:Chris    from:01/01/2022 till:end        color:Bass
 bar:Ed       from:01/01/1984 till:02/01/1986 color:Drums
 bar:Greg     from:08/01/1990 till:03/01/1995 color:Drums
 bar:Greg     from:09/01/2013 till:12/31/2015 color:Drums
 bar:Brian    from:03/01/2016 till:end        color:Drums
 bar:Brian    from:03/01/2016 till:end        color:BVocals width:3

</timeline>

Discography

Demos

Demo 1980
Demo 1982
Promo Demo 1985

Albums

The Obsessed (Hellhound Records, 1990)
Lunar Womb (Hellhound Records, 1991)
The Church Within (Hellhound Records/Columbia Records, 1994)
Sacred (Relapse Records, 2017)
Gilded Sorrow (Ripple Music, 2024)

EPs and singles

Sodden Jackal 7" (Invictus Records, 1983)
"Streetside" 7"/CD (Columbia Records, 1994)
"To Protect and to Serve" 7"/CD (Columbia Records, 1994)
Altamont Nation 7" (Bong Load Records, 1995)
Instrumental 7" (Doom Records, 1996)
Sodden Jackal 7" (with different mixes) (Doom Records, 1996)
Split 7" with Mystick Krewe of Clearlight (both sides Lynyrd Skynyrd covers) (Southern Lord Records, 2001)
Sodden Jackal 7" (TKO Records, 2012)

Compilation and live albums

History of The Obsessed (Doom Records, 1997)
Live at the Wax Museum (Doom Records, 1997)
Incarnate (Southern Lord Records, 1999)
The Obsessed reissue w/live '84 CD (Tolotta Records, 2000)
History of The Obsessed Volume II (Doom Records, 2002)

References

^ "The Obsessed Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic.
^ "The Obsessed". theobsessed.com. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
^ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 ^3.7 Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 259/60. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.
^ ^4.0 ^4.1 "The History of Rock Music. Obsessed: biography, discography, reviews, best albums, ratings". scaruffi.com. Retrieved February 22, 2024.
^ "THE OBSESSED's New Album, 'Gilded Sorrow', To Arrive In February 2024". Blabbermouth.net. September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.
^ "THE OBSESSED Announces Official Release Date For 'Gilded Sorrow' Album". Blabbermouth.net. September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.

External links

Media related to The Obsessed at Wikimedia Commons
{{AllMusic}} template missing ID and not present in Wikidata.

[1] "The Obsessed Songs, Albums, Reviews, Bio & More". AllMusic.

[2] "The Obsessed". theobsessed.com. Retrieved February 22, 2024.

[LarkinHM-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 ^3.5 ^3.6 ^3.7 Colin Larkin, ed. (1995). The Guinness Who's Who of Heavy Metal (Second ed.). Guinness Publishing. pp. 259/60. ISBN 0-85112-656-1.

[scaruffi-4] 4.0 ^4.1 "The History of Rock Music. Obsessed: biography, discography, reviews, best albums, ratings". scaruffi.com. Retrieved February 22, 2024.

[5] "THE OBSESSED's New Album, 'Gilded Sorrow', To Arrive In February 2024". Blabbermouth.net. September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.

[6] "THE OBSESSED Announces Official Release Date For 'Gilded Sorrow' Album". Blabbermouth.net. September 14, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2023.

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