Obituary drummer Dan Tardy recently revealed to Chaoszine that his band has completed work on their as-yet-untitled new studio album, which serves as the follow-up to 2017's self-titled effort. An excerpt from the video interview below has been transcribed as follows:

Tardy: "I can proudly tell you that the new album is finished. But I can also tell you that until this pandemic opens up Europe, we will not release this album until we are invited back to Europe. Because the only thing that albums are good for now, and some people won't agree with this, especially fans, is that it's there to get people talking about the band so when we get ready to go tour, we can make a living because nobody — and I don't mean nobody as in zero percent — but the percentage of people actually walking to a Best Buy or walking to a store and physically buying one of my albums compared to 18 years ago, as you can imagine, is nil. So we have to wait for the prime opportunity to release this thing so everybody wants to go and get it. And the prime opportunity is when Europe is open, when America is open, we can release it and we can be in Europe and we can go bust our asses and hope that people go and buy the new album. 'Cause everyone is listening to it, but we're all listening to it on Spotify and on these streaming sites, and that doesn't do musicians like myself, it doesn't do us any good because we don't get royalties from those companies."

"The new album is done and it is f*cking awesome! But you guys are going to have to have patience. We're going to wait until Europe opens up. It is Obituary, absolutely 100%, meat and potatoes, but with Ken's (Andrews, guitarist) influence and him able to write a few songs with me on this one, he brings a much more old-school thrash metal feel. So it's fresh, it's killer, it's exciting on some of those songs, but then also the meat and potatoes, there are some songs that are so heavy on this record, man. I'm so proud of it. I can't wait for people to hear it. And the production — we recorded it at our studio and then we sent it off to Joe Cincotta, my boy who's done the last four albums with us. He did an amazing job; the sound of this record is fantastic. I can't wait for everybody to hear it. We're working on the album cover right now. And we are now just waiting for the target date that we're gonna release it."

"The reality is we haven't been to Europe in four years and they're deserving of it as well. So we're gonna wait so all of us around the whole world can celebrate this album with us properly where we can go do a world tour and promote it."

In live news, Obituary, have announced the RedNeck Run III US spring tour with Gruesome and 200 Stab Wounds. Tickets are on sale now.

Tour dates:

March
18 - Jacksonville, FL, - 1904
19 - Spartanburg, SC - Ground Zero
20 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506
22 - Norfolk, VA - Elevation 27
23 - Millersville, PA - Phantom Power
25 - Providence, RI - Fete Music Hall
26 - Burlington, VT - Nectar’s
27 - Albany, NY - Underground Live
29 - Worcester, MA - The Palladium
30 - Amityville, NY - Amityville Music Hall
31 - Mechanicsburg, PA - Lovedraft's Brewing Co

April
1 - Pittsburgh, PA - Spirit Hall
2 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
4 - Indianapolis, IN - Hi-fi
5 - Huntington, WV - The Loud
6 - Harrisonburg, VA - The Golden Pony
8 - Louisville, KY - Headliners Music Hall
9 - Nashville, TN - The Basement East
10 - Birmingham, AL - Zydeco  

Obituary comments: “It’s time to put away the leather jackets and boots, bust out the FlipFlops & TankTops and prepare yourself for an outrageously, awkward yet undeniably amazing evening that could possibly turn into the best night of your life.

The Florida Boys are at it again and are firing up the RV, checking the brake lines and high tailing it out of town and heading your way…so breaking out the SunBlock and prepare to Rock!

The EastCoast RedNeckRun III is about to go down and we need to know two things…who’s joining us and is the Beer Cold? Contrary to the Apollo-13-Mission, failure is an option and so are Shoes…but having a GodDamn GoodTime is a none of your money back guarantee!

This isn’t Rocket Science nor have we ever claimed to be scientists or the smartest band in the world..we’re just thirsty, ready to jam and hope you are too.  Where will WE see YOU?

 We’re just happier than a puppy with two peters to be headed back out on the road.”

(Photo - Stefan Schippe)