||  Artist......: Yob                                                ||
||  Album.......: Catharsis                                          ||
||  Year........: 2003                                               ||

||  Genre.......: Metal                                              ||
||  Label.......: Abstract USA                                       ||

||  Source......: WEB (16bit)                                        ||
||  Encoder.....: libFLAC                                            ||
||  Bitrate.....: 914 kbps avg.                                      ||
||  F.Rate......: 44.1kHz                                            ||

||  Playtime....: 00:49:06 / 334.05MB                                ||
||  R.Date......: 2024-09-07                                         ||
||  S.Date......: 2003-11-04                                         ||
||  Website.....: http://deezer.com/album/11871050                   ||

||  01. Aeons                                              17:59     ||
||  02. Ether                                               7:18     ||
||  03. Catharsis                                          23:49     ||

||  An artist most directly responsible for the modern doom boom,    ||
||  an artist whose development from album to album was as gradual   ||
||  and laboured as the music itself, and an artist that was slow    ||
||  to gain a following. Prolific and retrospectively celebrated at  ||
||  the turn of the century. But lack of recognition took its toll,  ||
||  with Yob breaking up in 2006 only to reform in 2009. But their   ||
||  early efforts were rewarded. And they are now acknowledged as    ||
||  trailblazers of post 2000 doom metal. Yob pursued a lighter,     ||
||  more spiritual calling, informed by Neurosis new-age twaddle.    ||

||  Yob’s approach to stoner metal is one of collaboration with the  ||
||  listener. Yob’s first offering ‘Elaborations of Carbon’ (2002)   ||
||  was a charmingly odd take on the groovy stoner doom. Mike        ||
||  Scheidt’s weird falsetto vocals that he intersperses with a      ||
||  death metal growl make for an uncomfortable combination at       ||
||  times. And the snare sound is bizarrely tinny, as if it was      ||
||  more suited for punk music than anything below the 80 bpm mark.  ||
||  ‘Catharsis’ (2003), their difficult second album, works with     ||
||  many of the same idiosyncratic limitations. But it turned out    ||
||  to be a masterpiece of trippy stoner doom that has quite         ||
||  frankly never been bettered, and Yob’s subsequent releases have  ||
||  really been variations on the ideas found herein, in a noble     ||
||  yet ultimately futile attempt to surpass it.                     ||

||  So what is it about ‘Catharsis’ that makes it so damn good? The  ||
||  answer lies in the structure. This is stoner doom’s answer to    ||
||  Burzum’s ‘Hvis Lyset Tar Oss’. Rather than pandering to easy     ||
||  wins through Sabbath aping, the album is patiently built around  ||
||  a rigid structure that utilises the basic building blocks of     ||
||  stoner doom to a more ambitious purpose than is typical of the   ||
||  subgenre. Opener ‘Aeons’ begins by introducing themes through    ||
||  repeated riffs and shifting dynamics. It builds slowly with      ||
||  drum and bass grooves and gradual layering of ever thicker       ||
||  guitars. The piece runs through the same cycle a few times,      ||
||  with each reiteration introducing a new layer of music, and      ||
||  with each reiteration we uncover something more within the       ||
||  layer-cake.                                                      ||

||  Then things take a turn for the more upbeat with ‘Ether’, which  ||
||  sees the album elaborate on the more dramatic elements of        ||
||  ‘Aeons’. The finale and title track brings all this together     ||
||  with epic builds and crashes, until ending in chaos. Each        ||
||  segment of the album references another, each section is placed  ||
||  where it is for a reason. Metal has always been a champion of    ||
||  long-form composition through the LP, but ‘Catharsis’ is one of  ||
||  those albums that takes this to another level. It transcends     ||
||  the musical components it is made up of to reach for something   ||
||  beyond. Each riff, rhythm, bassline and vocal technique will be  ||
||  familiar, we know it belongs within the stoner doom style, but   ||
||  they are all melted into a modern symphony of sorts. A reminder  ||
||  that one need not be bound by the limitations of genre to        ||
||  create something truly profound.                                 ||

||  I have praised both this album greatly because it pretty much    ||
||  deserves it. It is a reminder of what the limited style of       ||
||  stoner doom can be capable of. Praise where praise is due,       ||
||  stoner doom rarely gets good, let alone this good.               ||