Words and Photos by Danny O’Donnell

Oregon-based doom metal trio, Yob, stopped through Thalia Hall in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on just the second night of their 2019 North American tour. It was a cold and rainy Wednesday night, which seemed perfectly fitting given the band’s gloomy sound and dark performance. Opening duties were handled by Amenra and Voivod, who provided downtempo sludge-metal and classic heavy metal respectively, setting up perfectly for Yob, whose sound seems to borrow from each genre. There was an almost palpable excitement throughout the venue as the band was about to take the stage, and they did not disappoint. They came out of the gate hard, ripping into “Prepare The Ground;” an almost 10-minute explosion of slow-and-steady stoner metal. The fact that most of their tracks are much longer than average really seemed to play to their advantage, holding the audience’s attention with minimal downtime between songs.

The response from the Chicago crowd was strong, which might have been partly attributed to the fact that the bands future was uncertain just a couple of years prior. In 2017, vocalist/guitarist Mike Scheidt was hospitalized with diverticulitis. The mostly benign intestinal disease became life-threatening. After Scheidt’s brush with death, there was no certainty that he’d be able to continue touring and lefts fans wondering what the would hold. However, the health scare didn’t seem to slow Scheidt’s songwriting process too much. He wrote most of 2018’s Our Raw Heart from his hospital bed and album was released with mostly favorable reviews. Yob has been full-steam-ahead ever since, and it was incredible to see just how far they’ve come since then. They seemed effortless and entirely in their element on stage. Though They’ve been around for 23 years (except for a 2-year hiatus from 2006-08), their albums are as powerful as ever, and their live performances definitely follow suit. Catching a Yob show at this stage in their existence was something to behold, and the next time will undoubtedly be no different.