Yob: Song by Song is a series of articles that examines each and every Yob song in chronological manner. This one is on Beauty in Falling Leaves, the second track of their eighth album, Our Raw Heart.
Tenderness is not a quality often ascribed to metal. Doom metal, in particular, tends to be worrisome by nature. Beauty in Falling Leaves, however, is as gentle as its namesake. Headbangers, worry not – Ultimate Chillout this is not – but instead of doom metal, maybe it’s…hmm…‘life metal’? That sounds a bit hippie-ish – which, to be fair, this contemplative track is.
It’s a song of two halves, rather than of verses and chorus. Standing at 16 and a half minutes long, the album builds up to this track. As such, it feels like a centrepiece, and an unusual one at that. As mentioned, what makes Yob unusual for a doom band is the glimmer of hope they offer up; whereas there is a subset of sludge and stoner bands who eschew relentless pessimism (Weedeater’s deranged sense of humour springs to mind), doom metal tends to live up to its namesake. But here, we have clean, melodic guitar arpeggios, a dub-esque echo on the snare and strong, rich vocals; Scheidt has developed a husky quality to his clean singing, and his quaver stands out on the longer notes. The lyrics are even semi-comprehensible;
As seasons come here to rest
Lilting rays aglow
Obsidian flow
Fire hewn within the stone
Life that has come before
Looming fears of the wilt
Shadows at the door
Colors in the mirror
It’s a simple song, but I reckon this is hard to play well – the loud bits are actually louder, the note lengths are well controlled, nor does it build up into a big change into a minor feel at any point; there is no volte face, and in this sense, it is more post-metal then doom.
Next track: Original Face
mathematicaldeathgrindfromfrance 