Lista de los grupos Stoner Doom Yob Atma

Any good fan of Doom Metal in general and Sludge in particular would be thrilled to have to review in advance the forthcoming release of legendary YOB. I haven’t just got the heart to pretend otherwise. When the words YOB and Atma were flashing in the review section, I just couldn’t help myself.

Atma is YOB’s sixth full-length. Since the release in 2002 of their debut Elaborations of Carbon, the band’s been pretty regular if you except the Middian “incident”. They’ve built their very own sound which is very much personal and that very few bands have taken on successfully (Talbot from Estonia would be a good example). In doing so, they’ve built their own legends, each new album adding to the edifice without swaying away from the original intent. Playing the loudest music ever.

The Unreal Never Lived, which was also previously released on Profund Lore Records, was a very nice record. A solid record just like any other album YOB have released so far but it wasn’t as thrilling as Catharsis, among others. With Atma, YOB perfected their sound even further giving fans of the late era their faire share of uber-long tracks but also something that would revive the old flames of early fans.

The two first tracks, which are, arguably, the very best ones on Atma, stay under the 10 minutes mark and in doing so make them more percussive. Talking about Catharsis, they’d be a pretty good continuation of this period of the band and at times it almost feels as if Mike Scheidt would growl away with full force the way he did on the first two records. Those tracks are haunted, and despite the downbeat DOOOOM tempo you’ll find yourself banging your head with passion. Slowly banging it that is, but still banging it.

The three remaining tracks have more body to them and some would even point a troubling resemblance with Neurosis on Before We Dreamed of Two but they really stand out as natural progression considering the work offered on The Unreal Never Lived. They’re fantastic tracks as well except they’re a bit overshadowed by the perfection of the first two.

Once again, YOB prove that they’re in a league of their own and that when it comes to Sludge, there’s just no competition. There’s YOB and there’s the rest. Now it’s all fine and dandy and when scrobbling retards and other internet rulers will make their annual counts, chances are Atma will rank high on the list of everyone’s favorite 2011 records.




PS: I know of one more thing that could make this a fantastic YOB year as well: please, please, please have Elobarations of Carbon and Catharsis re-released. No one wants to have to pay more than 100 bucks for a record.