The Obsessed have a new drummer and Wino says the record was written around him.
Bob Pantella came in after Brian Costantino left, and the list of places he has played explains the enthusiasm: The Atomic Bitchwax, Monster Magnet, and a record with Raging Slab, which Weinrich names as one of his own favourites from the time. "We were very lucky to find Bob," he told Electric Eye.
What changed is the writing rather than the personnel list. Because Pantella can come out of the gate blazing, as Wino puts it, the songs were built to use that, with drum breaks written in rather than left to happen. He describes the result as a powerful groove and a solidness that was not exactly missing before but is a different thing now.
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Free has ten songs, none of them past five and a half minutes, which for this band is a decision. More about the song than the jam, he says, with a lot of words crammed in. It follows Gilded Sorrow from 2024, was recorded with Frank Marchand, and Heavy Psych Sounds have it due in early 2027.