Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

Album stream: http://yobislove.bandcamp.com/album/clearing-the-path-to-ascend



Well written review as always, but I humbly beg to differ in every way possible. Plus, I agree about the summary being a bit impolite.





but metal has never been about subtlety.



You are correct about metal in general, but there are cases where doom metal can be all about (awesome, at times) subtlety. For example, Earth's awesome album The Bees Made Honey in the Lion's Skull is an ode to subtlety.





If I want to listen to adventurous doom metal, I will choose bands like Solitude Aeturnus, Confessor, the last Esoteric album and so on. If I want to drone myself to doom metal, then YOB albums like this one or Catharsis are easily among the best choices available.

nice and don't forget Subrosa's More Constant Than The Gods, myfav doom of last year by a longshot

well at least the album cover is kinda cool.

Well I loved 'Catharsis'...back in the day. I'll give this a try.

"yield it"

think you mean 'wield it' brutha. sick review anyways, nice job.

Review seems a bit naive

Well written though

Album Rating: 4.0

I really feel like you sold this album short. There's much more than four songs with four riffs happening here. I 've been watching albums get so hyped up that they can't live up to the anticipation built for them; Lord Mantis, Code Orange, Agalloch, Pallbearer, and so on, all just this year, hugely hyped and met with with mixed reception. I think most fans and reviewers aren't paying attention to what these works are trying to SAY, and whether or not they say it well. I think you were expecting a total crusher of an album, and kept waiting for the avalanche, and ended up feeling much the same as I did the first time I listened to Om. "Clearing the Path" is an album of exploration of the spirit, of existence. It demands more than a casual listen, but I feel it's rewarding in kind. Either way, at the end of the day, this is still YOB. They didn't betray themselves, and they didn't rely entirely on the same types of songs that earned them their noteriety. Far from "average/good/elevator music."

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah couldn't disagree more with the 4 riffs criticism, love the constant tension this creates. I'd also say that there are releases to said tension, more in the way of softer passages than heavy groove, but release nonetheless

Album Rating: 3.0

Come on people, Adam is correct on this. YOB aren't reinventing the wheel nor are they even trying anymore. If you want to argue subtlety then talk about every album they've released before their comeback in 09. They're just doing their rounds; same old, same old and quite frankly, I'm happy I didn't buy this album because I already own it twice.

Album Rating: 4.0

i can see how this album splits people in two factions. especially with doom, where repetitiveness is used

stylistically, some like one release over another because of minor/personal preferences. good review though,

definitely get the reasoning for your raiting.

havent made up my mind yet completely about it, but there are parts in this at least from the few listens i

gave it, that i really enjoy a lot.

Album Rating: 4.5

Its Yob doing Yob and doing Yob really well. As a Yob fan, Im fine with that. Some absolute crushing riffs and moments in general on this record and they havent really recorded anything in the vein of 'Marrow' before. Disagree completely.

Album Rating: 4.0

Not to mention the fantastic production on this album. One of the loudest, clearest sounding albums of theirs ever.

you dont have to reinvent the wheel to make a catchy album

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah of course they're not reinventing the wheel, they're just grizzled veterans churning out another excellent slab of stoner doom. san antonio spurs of their generation

really all i expect from these guys is album after album of decent ass stoner doom that you can put on in the background and fuzz out to and that seems to be what they aim to make so i dont think ill have any qualms with this beast

Album Rating: 4.5

i love this album adam you make me sad

Album Rating: 3.0

really all i expect from these guys is album after album of decent ass stoner doom that you can put on in the background and fuzz out to and that seems to be what they aim to make so i dont think ill have any qualms with this beast



You really need to hear their first few albums. After you them and come back to this, you will be slightly saddened.

Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off

^^you will be slightly saddened



Not necessarily. In this one, YOB pay a really solid tribute to Catharsis, an album that is likely to be dismissed by people not used to drone/doom metal.



The only "lackluster" moment I personally see in here is in the second track and that's because YOB excelled at the sludge/doom metal thing in Illusion Of Motion and The Unreal Never Lived.



Of course, even the most original patterns tend to fade with time, but I think YOB are playing it really nice atm. Not quite sure what the future will bring, though.

nah this album is great