Yob/Witch Mountain
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Atlanta, GA
The Earl
Wow. That’s really all I have to say about the Yob and Witch Mountain show this past Saturday at the Earl. I could really end this review at that. But for the sake of those who missed it—or those who want to relive it—I will write on. Unfortunately I got distracted by a massive plate of enchiladas so I missed the first band, Strategic War Heads. But I arrived at the Earl just in time to catch With Mountain, and I am so damn glad I did.
I’ve heard a few people say the liked Witch Mountain’s old singer better. I had never heard them before, so I had no prejudices when their set began. I was actually pretty well blown away. I thought the apparently new singer (who I later found out is only 20 years old!) carried the show. I found her voice and her stage presence captivating. I am usually not a fan of female vocalists in metal because female-fronted metal bands have a tendency to sound too poppy to me. But I didn’t get a pop vibe at all from this girl. Her voice was everything from soulful to guttural. It wasn’t your typical doom metal setup, but it really worked for me. There was a chemistry amongst the members that allowed them to connect with what seemed to me to be a highly receptive audience.
Witch Mountain’s set was actually a decent length for an opening band, and their songs contained enough variety that it didn’t become tedious. No one in the band really said much the whole time, but they didn’t need to. I’ll go ahead and be cliché and say they spoke through their music. (Oh, and the guys in the band spoke to me plenty after the show…apparently open relationships are the norm in Portlan). Regardless, Witch Mountain gained a new fan that night. Because I don’t know any of their songs off the top of my head, I don’t have too much more to say about them, but I will definitely be listening to more of them in the future, and I hope they come back to Atlanta soon.
Yob, on the other hand, I’ve been a fan of for a while. I’m a sucker for some good ol’ fashioned doom metal. Their set was slow, spacey, and melodic. It was heavy and chilling. It was also pretty long, despite only being a whopping six songs, but never boring. If you were there and saw me yawning towards the end of their set, that’s only because I am a grandma trapped in a 24-year-old’s body and I usually go to sleep at 9 p.m. But I digress…
Yob opened with “Ball of Molten Lead,” a song stretching out just over eleven minutes and slowly building up to reveal a vocal and musical style that recalled the roots of doom: Black Sabbath. Next, they played “In Our Blood,” which was probably my favorite. This one hits just about seventeen minutes and is somehow bleak and sultry at the same time, which are two of my favorite qualities of doom metal. “Burning the Altar” was next, a somewhat heavier piece, followed by a softer song, “Marrow.” The last two songs were “Adrift in the Ocean,” a hyper-melodic number whose scales sound almost Middle Eastern, and finally, “Atma.” “Atma” was the shortest song they played (only nine minutes!), but it was the perfect closer. It was probably their heaviest song of the night, which provided a welcome contrast to some of the lighter stuff they played earlier in their set. The vocals in this last song were more guttural; they reminded me more of something like Meshuggah rather than Sabbath. I appreciated their versatility throughout their set, which is not an easy feat for a genre that focuses on slow tempos, thick tones, and generally long, sometimes repetitive songs.
I’m finding the review of a doom metal show to be the most challenging one I’ve done yet. It’s hard to put this genre of music into words without just calling it what it is: a style that is intended to bring about a sense of doom and despair in its listeners. Witch Mountain and Yob succeeded in doing just that. Those who are not fans of doom might not understand why it is so enjoyable to share that kind of darkness with the musicians playing it and the audience listening to it. But for fans of doom, Witch Mountain and Yob captured the spirit of the doom sound perfectly. With that, I return to my opening statement: wow. This was an impressive night that showcased the best of modern doom metal. Black Sabbath would be proud.
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