JOHN TARDY Says OBITUARY's Goal Is To Start Putting Ideas Down For Next Studio Album For Possible 2027 Release

In a new interview with Alejandro Bonilla Carvajal of Colombia's Alejandrosis, OBITUARY frontman John Tardy was asked about the possibility of a new studio album from the veteran Florida death metallers. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah. It's tough. You come out with an album nowadays and it takes us that three, four, five years just to kind of cover all the territory [on tour] and get things done. But we're always collecting rhythms and ideas and songtitles and things like that all day long. It's kind of what we do. Every time you soundcheck or something, Trevor [Peres, OBITUARY guitarist] just turns his amp on or something, and you're in a cool room and he'll come up with something and always just kind of go over to his phone, record a little bit, this and that. So you're always collecting stuff. We've just been so busy, but it is kind of our goal to go ahead and start putting some of that stuff together this year and getting some of these ideas put down and start that slow process towards maybe doing another release here, maybe next year or so."

John was also asked to weigh in on former DEICIDE/CANNIBAL CORPSE guitarist Jack Owen's recent comment that a tour of the "Big Four" of Florida death metal — featuring MORBID ANGEL, DEICIDE, OBITUARY and CANNIBAL CORPSE — could never happen because there wasn't enough of a friendship between all the bands to make it a reality. John said: "[Laughs]  That's not us. You know what? We have personally always been that band for as long as I can remember… And I know there's lots of bands that would show up and they might say, 'Oh, we're better than you. We wanna play after you,' or, 'We wanna headline' and this and that. And you can even see with a lot of the tours that we do, we have no problem in the world opening for anybody. I don't really care. It doesn't bother me whatsoever to open for anybody else. And I would open for CANNIBAL CORPSE or DEICIDE on any given day. And maybe some other bands always aren't like that. Maybe they feel like they should be a headlining band and maybe that means something to them. It doesn't matter to us. We like to drink and party a lot, so if to get on earlier in the night and get done and then go ahead and start drinking, I'm totally down with that. [Laughs]"

Asked if that means that he would be open to sharing the stage with all those bands, John said: "Yeah, you know what? We've done a couple of tours with CANNIBAL CORPSE, and we have told Glen [Benton, DEICIDE frontman] before that we wanna do some tours with them before we're all too old to do it. And he keeps promising that we'll get together and do something. So, it wouldn't surprise me [if we did something together]."

Tardy continued: "We've been friends with TESTAMENT for the longest of time and finally just went and got to do our first European tour with TESTAMENT, which was fun for us. I know they're not a Florida band, but they're friends of ours from long ago. And Steve DiGiorgio [TESTAMENT bassist] is a really good friend. We actually had [TESTAMENT singer] Chuck Billy — [he] just flew in the town this weekend. Me and my brother, we went golfing with Chuck and went and had some dinner and stuff and hung out with him. So that was a lot of fun. But it wouldn't surprise me, and hopefully here sometime soon we get to at least maybe do some shows with DEICIDE, for sure."

OBITUARY recently announced a headlining tour for March with support from CASTRATOR and INTOXICATED. The nine-date trek will include two shows as the support act for ACID BATH.

Last summer, OBITUARY drummer Donald Tardy, who is John's brother, was asked by Bloodstock TV's Oran O'Beirne if the band was still planning on releasing a new studio album in 2026 or 2027. He responded: "In the rock and roll industry, you make plans and nothing ever sticks, and getting pushed back, it happens always. So I don't wanna tell people that there's gonna be a new album, 'cause is there? We don't know. We're having a damn good time. My brother and I are having a blast.

"Should there be one more record? Possibly. Possibly for the fans," he continued. "Going on a 40-year career, we're wondering, where do we go with this career of ours? And how much longer? Do we wanna do it? Can we do it? And should we?

"And so to answer the question, we love writing music and we love the idea of a new album, but we will definitely take our time and write the best songs we possibly can, just like we did with 'Dying Of Everything'," Donald added. "So '26 and '27 will be a writing process, and then the recording of it. So, we're looking it as, if we're still on this side of the ground and we could do it, there'll be another one, simply because the fans deserve it. And we're still having a good time doing what we do."

Last year, OBITUARY celebrated the 35th anniversary of its second album, "Cause Of Death", on a North American tour. Support on the trek came from NAILS, TERROR, SPIRITWORLD and PEST CONTROL.

OBITUARY's latest studio album, "Dying Of Everything", came out in January 2023 via Relapse Records.

In 2022, Decibel Books released "Turned Inside Out: The Official Story Of Obituary", the fully authorized biography of OBITUARY. The book was written by David E. Gehlke, author of "Damn The Machine: The Story Of Noise Records" and "No Celebration: The Official Story Of Paradise Lost".