- The Obsessed has signed a worldwide record deal with Heavy Psych Sounds Records for a new studio album due in 2027.
- Live representation is unchanged: Atomic Music Group continues handling North America, Sound of Liberation continues covering Europe/UK.
- The deal follows 2024's Gilded Sorrow on Ripple Music and the 2025 addition of drummer Bob Pantella (Monster Magnet).
- Heavy Psych Sounds adds another doom cornerstone to a roster that already includes Pentagram, Kadavar, Conan, and Nebula.
Doom metal pioneers The Obsessed have signed a worldwide deal with Heavy Psych Sounds Records for a new studio album due in 2027; frontman Scott “Wino” Weinrich confirmed this week.
The band is currently finishing the record at Waterford Digital Studio in Pasadena, Maryland, with producer Frank Marchand.
Formed in Maryland in the late 1970s, The Obsessed helped define doom metal alongside Wino’s other projects, including Saint Vitus and Spirit Caravan.
The band expanded to a four-piece in 2022 with bassist Chris Angleberger and guitarist Jason Taylor, then brought on Monster Magnet drummer Bob Pantella in 2025. Their last album, Gilded Sorrow, arrived on Ripple Music in early 2024 and drew praise from Metal Hammer and Ghost Cult Magazine.
The band has toured hard in recent years, playing festivals like Hellfest, Freak Valley, Snowblind Festival, and Desertfest.
The Heavy Psych Sounds deal covers recordings only; the band’s live representation stays intact, with Atomic Music Group continuing to book North America and Sound of Liberation handling Europe and the UK.
The setup mirrors a pattern playing out elsewhere in the industry this year, where artists change label homes without disturbing their booking and management teams: Michelle Branch’s recent move to BMG and Zara Larsson’s switch to RCA Records, both of which left existing agency relationships untouched.
For Heavy Psych Sounds, the Italian label built around heavy psych, stoner, and doom has kept growing its roster, home to acts like Pentagram, Kadavar, Conan, and Nebula. Landing The Obsessed adds another genre cornerstone as the label pushes further into North American doom.
Takeaways
This one reads less like a rebuild and more like a genre reunion. Heavy Psych Sounds has spent nearly two decades curating exactly the kind of riff-heavy, doom-forward sound Wino and company helped invent back in the late ’70s, so this is a label finally landing one of its obvious spiritual forefathers.
Keeping Atomic Music Group and Sound of Liberation in place for touring also means the band’s live show, still arguably its biggest draw, doesn’t lose momentum while the new record comes together.
Will the 2027 album lean into classic Obsessed doom, or does the new label push the sound toward HPS’s broader stoner/psych catalog? Does signing with a boutique, genre-built label give the band more creative control than a larger one would?
