In a new interview with Laughing Monkey With Shawn Ratches, THE OBSESSED frontman Scott “Wino” Weinrich spoke about the American doom metal veterans’ upcoming album, “Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free”, which is tentatively due in early 2027 via Heavy Psych Sounds Records. The follow-up to 2024’s “Gilded Sorrow” was recorded at Waterford Digital Studio in Pasadena, Maryland with producer Frank Marchand. Weinrich said: “It’s finished. It’s mixed, mastered, the whole nine yards, and the label has it. The label usually has a plan, and I think because of the fact that we got some stuff going on with us, too, as far as Jason (Taylor, THE OBSESSED guitarist) is having a baby. Because of that, we decided we’re gonna push the release to about, I think, March. So, that seems like a long way away, it really does, but it’s feasible because of the holidays and all that. We’re gonna probably release a single. I’m not sure which one, what yet, but we’re probably gonna do a video, too, I would imagine.”

Weinrich went on to reveal that THE OBSESSED is planning to return to the studio in December 2026 to record a new EP, which will be made available as a standalone effort at a later date. Regarding why THE OBSESSED is returning to the studio so quickly after the completion of “Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free”, Wino said: “We have a couple of tunes that didn’t make the final grade, that we still have in the can, that they’re good songs, but maybe for one reason or another, I didn’t have the lyrics or whatever it might be. But I think what I’d really like to do with the EP is come at it with a brand new thing. Instead of doing a bunch of short songs, who knows? Maybe it’ll be one song. I don’t know. But I’m kind of feeling pretty inspired.”

As for what THE OBSESSED fans can expect from “Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free”, Wino said: “‘Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free’ is one of the tunes. And there’s a lot of tunes on it. The tunes are short. I don’t know, man. I like it. I never know. We’ll see what happens.”

Asked if THE OBSESSED will perform any of the new songs before “Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free”‘s release, Wino said: “Well, we’ve been playing the title track. We kind of don’t want to (play any more than that)… I mean, one camp is, like, ‘Let’s just play them.’ The other camp is, like, ‘Let’s hold them until the release.’ So we’re in that quandary. But I think that we’ll probably just hold them. The one song goes over good. I mean, it’s pretty fast. I wrote that song with the new lineup in mind, because (new THE OBSESSED drummer) Bob (Pantella) can come right out of the gate blazing. I’ve never been able to do that before. So that’s killer.”

He added: “When I was writing ‘Live Fast – Love Hard – Die Free’, I had Bob in mind when I wrote the drum (parts) and stuff, ’cause I could see it in my head, and now we can come out of the gate blazing if we want, which is amazing.”