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OBSESSED, THE   Iron & Stone   7" VINYL   (T.K.O.)    9.99



A classic piece of American doom metal, this three-song 7" was the first official release from Maryland's The Obsessed, originally released in 1983 as the Sodden Jackal 7" on Invictus Records and was later re-issued in the mid 90s, so it's been ages since this has been available on vinyl. All of the songs would later end up on the collection of odds and ends Invictus that The Obsessed released on Southern Lord, but this stuff really does sound best here in it's original form. As almost anyone into doom metal knows, The Obsessed were the first serious band from Maryland guitarist Wino, who would later go on to sing for doom legends Saint Vitus and form the bands The Hidden Hand, Spirit Caravan, Shrinebuilder and Premonition 13, and even this early in his career the man was writing some of the best underground metal ever. The opener "Iron & Stone" is a stomping doom-punk jam that takes a Sabbathy riff and welds it to a propulsive driving backbeat and Wino's dire visions, and it's followed by "Indestroy", a minute and a half blast of ferocious hardcore that'll come as a shock to anyone who thinks that this band was all about playing it slow and low, as sounds more like something from the old DC hardcore scene (which The Obsessed were intrinsically linked to). The title track sits on the b-side, and is one of The Obsessed's classic songs; its sinister doom metal riffing intertwines with the apocalyptic, Revelations-inspired imagery of Wino's lyrics and becomes tangled in clots of weird angular guitar that almost sound like a Black Flag interlude, but this song is mostly slow and crushing. It's great to hear this stuff on 7" again, and this new re-mastered reissue also includes new liner notes written by Wino that are worth the purchase alone.