Yob

Oregon doom metal band Yob -- from left, Aaron Rieseberg, Mike Scheidt and Travis Foster -- have a new record, "Clearing the Path to Ascend," which recently was named No. 1 on Rolling Stone's list of best metal albums of 2014. (Photo by James Rexroad)

(James Rexroad)

On doom metal act Yob's newest album, 2014's "Clearing the Path to Ascend," the Eugene-based trio explores and redefine the elements that have won doom a cult following over the years.

Doom dates to the '90s, but the genre's profile is on the rise now, even as bands like Yob intentionally push it toward the fringes.

"People climbing into this music are climbing into it just because it exists for its own sake, and it's being written by people who are pouring their blood and sweat into those notes, songs and lyrics," says Mike Scheidt, guitarist and vocalist for the group, which plays Portland's Hawthorne Theatre on March 9.

Scheidt says that in the last few decades music like Yob's has existed with little outside support. The bands involved "really just cared about cutting soulful, inspired records," he says.

And yet doom has ridden a rising wave of interest lately, with acts such as Pallbearer and Electric Wizard getting impressive press. That's presented new opportunities for Yob, but despite opening for Tool on a packed arena tour last year, the band's music remains uncompromising in its pummeling heaviness and epic scope.

"I feel like we write doom for people with ADD," Scheidt says, referencing his dynamic vocal shifts, which can send him writhing mid-song from a creeping falsetto to a blistering growl.

After marinating in influences as diverse as Seattle doom band Burning Witch and distortion-soaked English alt-rockers My Bloody Valentine, Scheidt continues to move Yob and its genre forward through numerous line-up and label changes, outright band splits and the passage of time.

"Anybody signing a band in the doom/sludge scene knows what they're getting into," Scheidt says of Yob's most recent label, Neurot, which is run by some of his heroes, underground metal legends Neurosis. "They're not run by a machine; they're run by a human who's passionate about making music."

"Clearing" is Yob's seventh album in 13 years. Crawling tempos, down-tuned guitars and tremor-inducing bass lines convey lyrics feverish with themes of death, mythical realms and agonized spiritual contemplation. With four tracks clocking in at more than an hour, this isn't music for the faint of heart.

Scheidt speaks of Oregon, which has produced critically lauded metal acts from Agalloch to Witch Mountain, like a man with a well-tuned palate at a wine tasting. "There's something that breeds this complexity and specific flavor," he says. "I almost never hear a band, then hear that they're from the Pacific Northwest, and say, 'Huh. Really?'"

The cover to "Clearing the Path to Ascend" features artwork by Portland native and Relapse Records house artist Orion Landau, who created a vertical triptych of the moon rising into a stormy night sky.

"We've had a really strong soul connection," Scheidt says of the visual artist and his work. "We wanted something that was tumultuous and dark, but beautiful and esoteric."

Those words could easily describe the music on the album, as well as the illustration. It's fitting, then, that when he circles back to discuss the appeal of doom metal Scheidt says there's a lasting impact to what his band creates: "That type of art will always have its time."

-- Jake Ten Pas for The Oregonian/OregonLive

***

YOB

Also: Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision, Atriarch

When: 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 9

Where: Hawthorne Theatre, 1507 S.E. 39th Ave.

Tickets: $18 advance, $20 at the door

More info: www.hawthornetheatre.com