YOB – The Great Cessation (2009) [Profound Lore Records]// Grade: A+

YOB’s been around for a bit. They did however break up and the brains behind the band, Mike Scheidt formed a band called Middian. Middian released a full-length and shortly after, they got hit with a legal baseball bat and were forced to call it quits. Turns out some Wisconsin-based group “Midian” gave them a cease and desist. Lame.

It’s probably a good thing that happened though. Middian’s demise prompted Scheidt to re-form YOB and man, he sounds pissed off! The Great Cessation has a lot of emotion. It may not be the politically-fueled emotion found in a lot of the crust-inspired Doom metal of today, but you can really feel Scheidt’s rage in the lyrics. For once, I feel like YOB’s music and Mike’s singing mesh so perfectly together. Not saying he wasn’t angry before, just that something feels and sounds so right in this album.

The Great Cessation starts out with “Burning the Altar”, a great introduction to YOB’s new sound. The blood-curdling scream let out around the 2:21 minute mark in this track gave me goose-bumps the first time I heard it. It almost reminds me of something Chino Merino would have let out around the release of Adrenaline. The rest of the album lays it all down, one track after the other. Some tracks almost sound like Sunn O))), while others sound more like older YOB. To top off the experience, The Great Cessation completes the project with a sedated and slow mid 90′s grunge sound.

Did someone say Helmet?

I highly recommend this album. R.I.P. Middian, long live YOB!

- Prolly