||  Artist......: Yob                                                ||
||  Album.......: The Illusion of Motion                             ||
||  Year........: 2004                                               ||

||  Genre.......: Metal                                              ||
||  Label.......: Metal Blade Records                                ||

||  Source......: WEB (16bit)                                        ||
||  Encoder.....: libFLAC                                            ||
||  Bitrate.....: 893 kbps avg.                                      ||
||  F.Rate......: 44.1kHz                                            ||

||  Playtime....: 00:56:27 / 375.27MB                                ||
||  R.Date......: 2024-09-07                                         ||
||  S.Date......: 2004-10-19                                         ||
||  Website.....: http://deezer.com/album/12861704                   ||

||  01. Ball of Molten Lead                                11:09     ||
||  02. Exorcism of the Host                               12:57     ||
||  03. Doom #2                                             6:11     ||
||  04. The Illusion of Motion                             26:10     ||

||  YOB's career was short, but amazing. Their impact, though now    ||
||  not considerable, in a few years this band will be emulated and  ||
||  adored by a plethora of bands to come. They're the Stoner        ||
||  version of SunnO))), and "The Illusion of Motion" is their best  ||
||  work of the entire catalogue.                                    ||

||  First of all, I'd just like to preface the actual review by      ||
||  saying YOB, Hyatari and Boris are the bands that got me into     ||
||  Doom and Stoner Metal. YOB, however, are the main reason,        ||
||  solely because of their ethic. Whereas most bands resort to      ||
||  droning out a section to ridiculous, and oftentimes ludicrously  ||
||  boring lengths, YOB have put all that to rest. The songwriting   ||
||  structure of this particular band isn't progressive at all,      ||
||  it's just that the passages include so much that in order to     ||
||  have a complete repetition, it takes more than ten or twenty     ||
||  minutes. YOB's strength is that the songwriting is absolutely    ||
||  phenominal, as are the elements that contribute to their         ||
||  personality.                                                     ||

||  Almost immediately, people will tell you that the easiest way    ||
||  to distinguish YOB is by the sound of frontman Mike Sheidt's     ||
||  voice, which although charastically completely non-Metal, is     ||
||  perfect for this album. The nasal, often vo-coded shrill cry of  ||
||  his standard clean vocals perfectly contrasts against his        ||
||  hard-as-steel growl-scream halfbreed, giving YOB a conservative  ||
||  appeal that recalls Black Sabbath in places, and Sleep in        ||
||  others.                                                          ||

||  Another thing setting YOB apart from their contemporaries-and    ||
||  especially on this release-is their skill when it comes to       ||
||  songwriting savvy. Although YOB's effect arsenal doesn't extend  ||
||  beyond a flanger and a wah pedal, the feelings they manage to    ||
||  evoke and the completely crushing sound produced creates a very  ||
||  distinct and dense heaviness that's hard to come about           ||
||  nowadays. Opener "Ball of Molten Lead" trudges along with a      ||
||  devouring groove that manages to insert melody after off-kilter  ||
||  and psychadelic melody, making it without a doubt the most       ||
||  memorable song on the album. "Exorcism of the Host", however,    ||
||  breaks the norm for a bit and relies upon a massively heavy and  ||
||  destructive riff throughout the initial few minutes of the       ||
||  song, along with some hellish growling. As the vocoded           ||
||  water-effect vocals make a second appearance, the music begins   ||
||  to layer and evolve into something more than just a              ||
||  steam-rolling riff.                                              ||

||  "Doom #2," however, surprised me by adhering to a more liberal   ||
||  Stoner ethic, rather than Doom. The tempo is mid-paced to fast,  ||
||  though never breaking Thrash boundaries. The vocal work here is  ||
||  again nearly perfect, and the riffs sound like a dense wall,     ||
||  never breaking momentum or their key sound. "The Illusion of     ||
||  Motion" is the beating heart of this album, though, and it's a   ||
||  title-track for a good reason. Implicating elements from all     ||
||  the earlier songs, it manages to create an incredibly dense and  ||
||  psychadelic wall, utilizing some fairly intense sustain and      ||
||  crunch, while managing to balance tempo and relate it directly   ||
||  to whether or not it's heavy or just plain boring. The           ||
||  vocalwork is at it's best on this track, showing Sheidt          ||
||  replicating another famous Mike-Mike Patton. Things end on a     ||
||  note similar to "Doom #2" with an almost up-beat freak-out of    ||
||  effects that sound like a bad acid trip during a thunder storm.  ||

||  YOB secured their place in the history of Metal with this        ||
||  release, and I'm sure when Age is upon us, our asses will be     ||
||  kicked again. Amazing album.                                     ||