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Yob: Our Raw Heart
 Any new recording by Yob is bound to get attention but this one will get a little more because of the story behind its creation. Before making this album, Yob frontman Mike Scheidt suffered from a potentially life-threatening intestinal disease. Although he survived, Scheidt came through the experience a changed man, someone who sees the world a little differently and wants to capture that new perspective in the music. This album’s title perfectly captures its overall ambition: to capture the vulnerability, anxiety, gratitude, and courage that comes with facing one’s mortality.
For those expecting a traditional Yob album, they will not be disappointed. All the usual musical moves are here but there’s an emotional side that stands out even more than on other recordings. Sure, this album is long and heavy and slow, but it understands that life is sometimes shorter than we realize. These qualities come through the most in long, mellower, songs such as “Beauty in Falling Leaves” and “Our Raw Heart.” Those tracks are deeply emotional and give Scheidt an opportunity to bear his heart. Even though I like Yob’s heavier side, these mellower tracks stood out to be precisely because of how they attempted to capture the beauty inside of suffering. They are definitely two of the strongest tracks on the album. As for the heavier stuff, I recommend “The Screen,” a track that sounds like it’s scraping rhythms off the floor.
It would be too strong to suggest that this album represents a new beginning for Yob. It certainly isn’t a bold new musical direction but it is nevertheless an album filled with gratitude, playfulness, and vulnerability. Highly recommended.
See more about this release on our recent YouTube show!
Track Listing:
1. Ablaze
2. The Screen
3. In Reverie
4. Lungs Reach
5. Beauty in Falling Leaves
6. Original Face
7. Our Raw Heart
Added: August 11th 2018
Reviewer: Carl Sederholm
Score:  
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 1352
Language: english
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Yob: Our Raw Heart
Posted by Pete Pardo, SoT Staff Writer on 2018-08-11 12:02:05
My Score:
I've been keeping somewhat of a cursory watch on Oregon's doom veterans Yob over the last decade, not following them too closely but still managing to enjoy a few of their releases during that time span. Our Raw Heart has garnered plenty of positive press from both critics and fans alike, not only due to the stellar music the album contains, but also because of the near death experience of guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt due to a savage intestinal disease. Ultimately, we are glad he is still here with us to talk about it, and his tale is told within the confines of this latest Yob record. As with much of the Yob catalog, the music ebbs and flows, a melancholy form of doom that injects plenty of melody as well as stark, almost post-rock styled passages, all housed within lengthy songs that rely just as much on massive riffs as they do on atmospheric soundscapes. Scheidt fluctuates between mournful clean vocals and a sludgy, near death metal snarl, doing both quite effectively on the brooding 10-minute opener "Ablaze". "The Screen" contains some of the albums best riffing along with pounding rhythms and yearning vocals, while "In Reverie" also packs some heft in the riff department, though this one approaches near funeral doom levels of slowness. The real highpoint of the album however is the 16-minute epic "Beauty in Falling Leaves", a gorgeous number that's a bit of a departure for the band, quite mellow and melancholy, with lilting guitar chords surrounding the occasional fuzz toned riffing, Scheidt's emotional vocals going straight for your heart strings. It's here that you really feel the poignant nature of Our Raw Heart. Growling vocals and screams permeate the heavy "Original Face", easily the most raging piece on the album, and the pensive title track closes things out in hopeful fashion, the melodies sure to once again appeal to your emotional side, the guitars slightly jangly in a sort of post/desert rock style.
Fine stuff here, an album that shows some different sides to Yob while still containing the doom elements we've come to love from them. Highly recommended.
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