Review by Vinny for YOB - Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014)

Mike Scheidt seems like a nice bloke.  Numerous interviews and documentaries that I have seen of late with him present have led me to this conclusion.  Having come to understand his roots, influences and musical tastes has helped him to become more than just “that guy out of Yob who nearly died” as I sometime fear the music media typecast him as being.  Whilst I have no doubt Mike is every part the survivor he gets portrayed as being, there is an intensity to his live performances that burns brighter than anyone else’s that I have seen over the many years that I have witnessed extreme music.  Survival instinct aside, Scheidt’s a warrior when he has a guitar in his hands and a mic in front of his chin.  Enduring a tough upbringing at the hands of peers that saw him plunge into the world of punk, metal as well as new wave (which remains a strong favourite of his musical tastes still) I imagine relates him to a lot of folks who didn’t fit with the “in” crowd in their younger years.

As a result of these insights, I feel I have more awareness of the depths present in Yob’s music.  Something that may well have been previously lost on me.  Understanding how Mike learned to stretch his legs (and hands/fingers of course) to move away from bar chords and pick out notes, becoming unafraid to change things up, has helped me to notice some of the nuances, touches and inflections present in the music of Yob.  As a band who have always struck me as a trio who produce music with an enormous amount of structure, Yob have a reputation with me for building enormous soundscapes.  Clearing the Path to Ascend was the most vast listening experience I had heard to date with the bands discography.  With just four songs taking up over an hour of music, there was clearly little room for error here.

One could argue that with such a short array of lengthy tracks on offer, Yob could just throw the kitchen sink at each song and hope for the best.  They don’t.  As I mentioned earlier, if there’s one word I would associate with Yob, it’s “structure”.  There is a level of patience required to be invested by the listener with this record, one that for me personally reaps some reward.  The build ups take their time, but never to the detriment of the songs.  My attention does not wane during these moments and let’s be honest, who comes to a doom record to be deterred by repetition?  Scheidt’s nasal crooning and his guttural growls are probably the weakest part of Yob’s sound for me, yet I could not see any other style working half as well.  They are delivered (like the rest of the music) from the heart.  It is all about the riffs and heavy bass presence though for me, even if this does mean the drums are often lost in the fuzzy rumble of the mix of the album.  It doesn’t feel like a deliberately obtuse production decision has been made here though, as I could argue more percussion just simply is not needed.

In a genre where most records can sound the same, Clearing the Path to Ascend uses cosmic atmospheres in places to provide “pauses for breath” I guess and to add variety.  They are probably the most difficult aspect of the album to contend with for me.  I would be happy for them to be ditched in favour of more pummelling for my ears.  However, at over an hour long, I can see why the record needs these lulls in intensity.  Yob manage to bounce the tracks back each time though, so as undesirable as it may be, I can forgive them at least.  Listening to his album led me to the wider discography and I think that in comparison to some other albums, this one lacks any exemplar tracks.  As strong an album as it undoubtedly is, there’s only really ‘Marrow” that deserves real note for the absolute poignancy of its delivery.  No individual criticisms on a track-by-track basis then, but there are better Yob albums out there.