Album of the day: The Obsessed – Incarnate (Southern Lord 2004)

(From our archives): Well, deemed with the task of reviewing this record has left me with a profound dilemma; why bother? If you need me to tell you how good this is, then you’ve been living under a rock for some time now. I mean, do I have to convince you that the sky is blue? Or fucking feels good? No. As sure as there will be death and taxes, The Obsessed are/were GODS. The Obsessed embodied EVERYTHING one needs in heavy music.

Soul, meat, teeth, sweat, blood, anger, beauty, sadness, and violence. Some would equate them to the original Sabbath in importance and influence, and they wouldn’t be wrong for doing so. The only difference was exposure. Black Sabbath had it, The Obsessed did not. Sabbath had a pile of label money behind them, while The Obsessed remained giants in the underground scene, which quite often means more than ‘market’ exposure.

These recordings were originally made available only in limited quantities, therefore they were bootlegged, traded, and dubbed over and over for years, because you just couldn’t get your damn hands on them. I remember when The Church Within was released, I was ecstatic, because the only other recording of The Obsessed I had was a completely beat, shit copy of various tracks dubbed onto none other than an answering machine cassette! The thought that I could have these songs on a CD was ridiculous.
Until now. The fine folks over at Southern Lord have compiled 13 of the heaviest, rarest tracks laid by Wino and Co. and put them on what may very well be one of the most important recordings in the history of metal.

There’s no denying Wino’s contribution to doom / metal / stoner rock or whatever you want to call it. The evidence is everywhere, lurking beneath the riffs and melodies of numerous modern heavy bands. Luckily, this record will expose a new crop of musicians and fans alike to the genius that was The Obsessed. Cheers.
Mike Hubbard

Tags: album of the day, doom, scott weinrich, southern lord, The Obsessed, wino

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