Ghost Cult caught up with Mike Scheidt of YOB recently, while the band was on their mini-headline tour. Mike talked about the return to touring, his approach to playing live, the longevity of the band, the new deluxe re-issue of their classic album Atma (Relapse Records) – what Mike is reading these days, and the progress of the next YOB album! Also, check out this EXCLUSIVE photo set from YOB live in New York by Dante Torrieri of Useless Rebel Imaging! In addition to our recent live review of the current tour from the band, Ghost Cult scribe Michael Miller shared his thoughts upon seeing the band recently sharing the common awe we all feel experiencing the band, as well, which serve as a nice warm up to our chat with Mike.
Having been largely absent from the European touring circuit since 2019, psychedelic/progressive doomsters Yob returned to English shores to perform a short run of intimate (ish) gigs before culminating their run with a sub-headline spot at the infamous Desertfest London, where they opened for genre legends Electric Wizard. Though one might imagine a venue as large as the Roundhouse as an ideal for a band with tracks as enormous, expansive, and plain loud as what Yob typically offers, the relative intimacy provided by the second smallest of the Manchester Academy venues, in comparison with the aforementioned London icon, made for a pummelling and utterly transfixing experience because, unlike a festival show, everyone in this room was here for Yob, and for a band who make behemothic tracks a staple, typically averaging at around 10 minutes in length, this gig was one of the breeziest experiences I’ve had at a concert in quite some time.
Yob graced the stage with a charming lack of flash and bullshit, barely hyping the crowd up at all, and obliterating the thick, tense silence with the monolithic opener to their Atma album, “Prepare the Ground”. It became quickly apparent to me why this band has become as hyped as they have. Their ability to craft original, expansive amd engaging soundscapes is second to none in the modern doom scene. And unlike so much doom metal of the typically depressing variety, there’s a nasty, filthy edge to what they do that makes for an incredibly unique listening experience. The succeeding track on the setlist “Atma”, combined mystical spoken-word musings on the essence of life with Mike Scheidt’s trippy, reverberating vocals, conjuring up images of a God in open conversation with his/her creation about their origin. Such is the epic nature of this band’s style, “The Lie that Is Sin” followed with infectious, mind-melting riffs and truly pained screaming that characterized much of the material on 2009’s comeback album “The Great Cessation”, which is by far my favorite album of theirs, and luckily, for me, the album that completed much of the material of Yob’s set, along with 2011’s Atma. Points must be given for being a band that doesn’t just focus on new material in the live setting. For a selection of songs three times the length of the average in metal, there was absolutely no fat on this setlist.
The double doom punch of rhythmically pounding tracks “Upon the Sight of the Other Shore” and fan-favorite “Adrift in the Ocean” followed suit, covering more existential (standard) topics for doom metal such as the platitudinous of religious gospels, metaphorically and literally being lost in the middle of the ocean, etc. It was during these tracks where Aaron Rieseberg’s bass truly shined, though the entire band remained incredibly tight throughout. If only Scott Kelly of Neurosis was present at this show, as his guest vocals were all “Ocean” needed to sound as perfectly as it did on the record.
Briefly thanking everyone for attending (and naturally ignoring the walking off, coming back on stage ritual we all despise) Yob finished us all off with “Burning the Altar”, a legendary, down-tuned monster of a track that, whenever I hear it, draws to mind a lumbering giant at the bottom of an ocean trench awakening after a thousand years of slumber. The pummeling progression and lacerating black metal screams of this track are incredible, and no doubt a perfect choice to end the set on, with repeated riffs that beat you and beat you in quick succession without ever getting stale or boring, which was admittedly a common feature of this set in general.
Although the UK run has since ended, I would recommend catching Yob live whenever possible. Their seamless blending of stoner, doom, black metal, and Floyd-istic psychedelic rock makes them true standouts within the genre they occupy, and I earnestly recommend catching them live, whether at a Roadburn-type event or simply at their own headline shows. And if you’re a skeptic of doom metal, I truly believe that standing in front of these guys for an hour and a bit would expand your mind.
Interview by Keefy (https://www.instagram.com/ghostcultkeefy). Words by Michael Miller. Live photos by Dante Torrieri of Useless Rebel Imaging. Video editing by Omar Cordy of OJC Photography (https://www.instagram.com/ojcpics). Theme music by Salted Wounds (https://www.instagram.com/saltedwoundsnyc).
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