Acclaimed Oregon Doom trio Yob have returned from the very brink with their stunning eighth album Our Raw Heart (Relapse). Following a well-publicized near death experience owing to a particularly awful battle with diverticulitis Yob mastermind Mike Scheidt has channeled the experience into a very personal emotive record, which resonates with the listener both musically and emotionally.
More immediate than Clearing the Path to Ascend, more psychedelic than Atma, there’s a delicate balance struck throughout the album. Aggressive but not angry, this is a cathartic, densely layered and quite visceral journey. There’s a rawness here, a vulnerability evident in Scheidt’s vocals, vocals that have changed following surgery, coupled with the clarity and strength of purpose that near death often provides. This is a spiritual and uplifting style of Doom, which is Yob’s trademark.
Yob albums are an experience, not really something you can pick individual tracks from, they all have their place marking stages in the pathway (to ascension?) Starting with the slow raw building of opener ‘Ablaze’, as wounded vocals soar above the music with a triumphant rawness. Leading into the crushing claustrophobia of ‘The Screen’, which at times reminded me of ‘God of Emptiness’ by Morbid Angel, slow scouring riffs, contrast the glorious soaring vocal lines providing a hypnotic emotional roller coaster.
‘In reverie’s’ slow churn moves us along at a measured pace, building but never quite breaking, before the serene soundscapes and tenderness of ‘Lungs Reach’s’ opening lurches forward into harsh dry vocals which contain an eternal, harrowing quality.
The clear album highlight is the epically lengthy ‘Beauty In Falling Leaves’, the centrepiece of the journey. ‘Beauty…’ is noticeably Introspective, a love song to the simple joy of being alive; moving along with a dynamic rise and fall, and ebb and flow, which has a significant emotional impact. Whilst the earlier part of the record may have you nodding along in a trancelike state, ‘Beauty…’ will make you pay attention once more, and appreciate the world with fresh eyes.
‘Original Face’ sticks out, in that it is a lot more immediate than the rest of the album, more upbeat. As the name hints it’s a bit more old school Yob than the rest of the album. The shift in dynamics of this sandwiched between ‘Beauty…’ and the title track at the end of the album makes it stand out.
Our Raw Heart, particularly considering it is born out of the circumstances surrounding its creation, is quite a special record, unique in the channeling of its experiences and its honest delivery to the listener.
9.0/10
RICH PRICE