Album of the Day: Yob – The Unreal Never Lived (Metal Blade 2005)

(From our archives):  The cataclysmic supremacy of doom alchemists, Yob seems to rise exponentially with each album, and  The Unreal Never Lived soars above the paltry offerings of the metal mainstream like a doomy avatar.

Mike Scheidt is a pan-dimensional, guitar shaman who wields his lead-footed axe with the searing accuracy of battle hardened Visigoth, bludgeoning the agog listener with pendulous swathes of throaty Gibson overkill, only to confound expectation with unctuous tones of blissful psychedelic beauty.

To say that Mssrs Scheidt (Git / Vox ), Sato (Bass), Foster’s (drums) doomodelic assault verges on the transcendental is cheap hyperbole for so mountainous a composition, inspirational heavy that plunges the shrieking cerebellum into a broiling sea of pungent lysergic imagery, and ultimately I lack the verbiage to succinctly quantify the peerless majesty that is the mighty Yob…

For me, at it’s most omnipotent,  The Unreal Never Lived incubates a glorious, deeply penetrating feeling of euphoria that effortlessly transcends many of the rigid limitations of traditional doom, if not rock music itself, and thus it would be remiss of me to dissect so adventurous a work by the sum of its parts. Since this would be to it’s detriment, simply put, the genius of this album is in it’s sumptuous totality, so one must delve deeply into it’s immersive, riff-heavy folds!

The wondrous idiosyncrasy of Mike’s signature double barrelled vox whose unerring ability to affect both black metal menace and exultant melodic castrati with equal aplomb remains breathtaking.  The Unreal Never Lived is a truly magnificent experience, exemplary heavy metal unfettered by the shackles of convention…

This is THE quintessential Yob release thus far deserving of it’s uniform praise, but I will say this, read as many glowing reviews as you wish, then simply ignore them as The Unreal Never Lived is infinitely better…
In a scene clogged rotten with a plethora of cut and paste metal, it gladdens the soul to bear witness to such elegiac heavy metal grandeur, and besides, this sonic titan drops riffs heavier than a marble portcullis.
Jason De L’Orme

Tags: album of the day, doom, metal blade, mike scheidt, yob

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