Week 1: Yob - Clearing The Path To Ascend (2014)

I have started 2015 with the latest LP by Yob, Clearing The Path To Ascend (released in 2014). Yob are often called a doom/sludge metal band, but I think that is far too limiting a label - I find most labels are. Genre labels can be used as a high level indication of style or feel, but you will never fully describe a band with so few words. You have to take a chance. You have to listen to know the truth.

Mike Scheidt, guitarist and vocalist, has a unique guitar style ranging from very gentle unaccompanied melodies to earthshaking power and emotion. Once you hear a Yob song and Mike's unmistakable voice, then you will get a good idea how limited a label like doom/sludge metal is for these guys.

The album opens with "In Our Blood" and begins with soft, dissonant guitar before pounding the ears with classic Yob power. "Nothing To Win" ups the pace with a tom filled tribal riff and breaks down into a tremendous locked-in drum and bass groove about half way through the song. I have yet to resist the urge to crank this every time. "Unmask The Spectre" starts the second half of the album with trance-like guitar lullaby, which pummels when the band turns it full on.

The album closes with my favorite song on the album, "Marrow." Yob have created another grand, majestic slab of music tapping into the listener's emotions. The song has a kind of melancholy sense of victory like it could accompany the end credits to a film. The outro is one of the finest endings to album I have heard in some time.

Please give Yob a spin. Listen to "Marrow" to test the waters. That song is worth the price of admission alone. If you like "Marrow," then check out an older song of Yob's called "Catharsis," which has been my go to Yob fix for many years.

Keep listening and thank you for reading this.