YOB
by Mark Hensch

YOB's The Unreal Never Lived is a CD I have craved to hear for a very long time. YOB is one of my favorite bands (if not my favorite) and the Eugene, Oregon doomsters are simply the best at what they do. And what YOB does is completely rock out. Hellish riffs slowly roll over the listener with all the subtle hinting of presence inherent in a steamroller accident; in simplified terms, YOB is heavier than the world's entire Elephant population. Those crushing riffs, imbued with a sense of gravity only found on say Jupiter, are sprinkled with surprisingly ethereal and esoteric guitar solos, all of which are spacey and drugged-out. Add on guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt's neuron-frying vocals (they've drawn comparisons to Dave Mustaine, Rob Halford, early Geddy Lee, and even the singer of Anti-Flag!) and you've got one hell of an excellent stoner/doom band. So as a stoner/doom fan, imagine the level of scrutiny this CD has been under.

Yes, I should be ungodly biased, but I'll be eternally dammed if I don't review this CD objectively and without pre-conceived notions. 

First thing's first. The Metal Blade signing of YOB prior to their 3rd album (2004's The Illusion of Motion, and probably one of those CDs I'll be listening to several decades from now) has seriously upped the production level of the band. Everything is clearer and more-focused, and I've got to comment (no offense to Metal Blade, an excellent label with a huge roster of extraordinary bands) that this new, cleaner, approach to album sounds hurts YOB a tad. The thing that makes YOB sound so heavy was that layer of hazy fog always enveloping their previous albums; that bong-smokey fuzz that added a little bit of extra weight to an already heavy band. On the other hand, the better production has taken Scheidt's vocals into a whole new dimension; he hits soaring, screeching highs with aplomb I didn't know existed and then sinks them into a black-hole rumble of low-frequency howls, all of which mesh and flow with a strange clarity never present to this degree on a YOB recording before.

"Quantum Mystic" is an excellent song and it's apparent right-away that YOB is here to kick the metal to the curb. Wall-of-sound riff explosions start and stop, and then eventually build into a tidal-wave of YOB's signature gargantuan assault. In a nod to the band's hardcore influences, the song has an Electric-Wizard influenced breakdown that transitions smoothly into sinister, ambient, guitar-wanking. 

"Mystic" is the perfect opener for this album and is also (important to note) a little faster in the tempo-department for YOB. "Grasping Air" is a stark contrast; an ominous, void-spawned guitar passage floats on by before pure, straight, doom blasts you into next week. In what proved to be a major disappointment for me, this song features the album's only serious, full-on, front-and-center guitar solo. What is offered here is an excellent piece of Pink Floydian space rock soloing. YOB sadly decided to cut down on the solos for this album (or so it seems) and rather beef up the amount of riffs, a decision I'm still not sure I agree whole-heartedly with. "Kosmos" is epic, riff-centric doom. This song is nothing but brick after brick in a wall of impenetrable sound waves. It's also fun to sing along to the mantra "OH MANI PADME HUM" as these lyrical touches of the mystical, arcane, esoteric, and such add a lot to the experience that is having YOB slowly plod past with their crushing brand of doom. 

"The Mental Tyrant" has an odd intro; wavey, laid-back, and spaced-out, these usual YOB trademarks somehow invoke supreme melancholy, something I don't normally tie to anything YOB has done and kind of enjoyed in a weird way. This 21 minute mammoth has some of the most complex and uncharacteristic passages ever crafted by YOB, and I must say they work excellently. This song completely kicked my sorry butt. Bassist Isamu Sato also makes his vocal debut, and he can hold his own to be sure.

All-in-all, I'd say this CD is probably heads-and-shoulders above anything else a doom (or any other metal fan) could want to hear this year. I am still unsure however if it manages to top The Illusion of Motion. There are arguments in both directions; the good is that Mike Scheidt has risen to new heights in the vocal departments, as well as expanded the average amount of riffs he chucks out per track. Bassist Isamu and drummer Travis Foster have also raised the bar, and it is interesting to see how much better YOB has improved as a unit. The lyrics are in my opinion the best they've ever written. On the bad side, I would have liked more of the totally-stoned solos, a bit of harsher production (for their haze of sound!) and perhaps less speeding up...YOB is after-all a doom band and the mid-tempo range the band approaches at times sounds a bit out of place for them.

Despite my minor quips, this is yet another masterpiece from what will probably be stoner/doom icons a few years down the line. YOB is simply one of the most exciting bands in this genre (though say Electric Wizard and Sleep rock too) and they prove it again and again with each album. Pick this up if you want to experience a whole new-level of doom magic.

YOB - The Unreal Never Lived

Label:Metal Blade
Rating:

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