YOB explore heavier extremes on Our Raw Heart

Our Raw Heart, the acclaimed new album from Oregon-based doom metal band YOB, almost never happened.

Singer and guitarist Mike Scheidt, who has led the band since it was formed in 1996, underwent a serious health scare early last year — a near-fatal bout of acute diverticulitis that left him hospitalized and the future of his band uncertain.

But as he recovered, Schiedt used the his brush with death as inspiration for a new album, which assesses mortality through a philosophical, harrowingly personal lens. For a band that’s classified as doom metal — which indicates a heavier sound, classical-influenced songwriting, and an atmosphere of despair — Our Raw Heart feels life-affirming and vital.

YOB will visit Birmingham’s Saturn on Tuesday, June 19, for a show that will feature fellow metal heavyweights Bell Witch and Birmingham-based opening act Hexxus. Recently, Jefferson County Journal spoke with YOB bassist Aaron Rieseberg about the path to Our Raw Heart.

Jefferson County Journal: Our Raw Heart was made following a pretty emotional time for the band, with Mike recovering from a life-threatening illness. How did that shape the construction of this record?

Aaron Rieseberg: As far as the whole record goes, the process of rehearing the songs and demoing them — up until the point where we got into the studio, it was a very different vibe this time around, in that we were just pretty elated that we were making a record again. That had been kind of questionable for a while, if we were going to be able to keep doing it, because we weren’t sure how Mike would heal up. There was this feeling of elation and gratefulness for each other that was renewed, and it made for just a really emotional outpouring of this material. The songs were really well-rehearsed this time, maybe better than ever, because of all the demoing we did. It just felt like an extra-special time. We just felt on fire.

Jefferson County Journal: Did that new outlook on the band shape the way you approached songwriting?

Rieseberg: I think we wanted to do something a lot different than Clearing the Path to Ascend. We always try to make [each album] a new kind of vibe that doesn’t quite hit like the other records do. We wanted something a little brighter, a little more colorful, with some different dynamics. That was the goal going in, and I think we achieved that. But, [like on Clearing], we still recorded to tape. We were doing live takes. That was just sort of the natural way it came out.

Jefferson County Journal: This new album covers a lot of sonic ground, moving from heavier material to softer, dreamier songs. Was it a challenge to make such diverse approaches work together as a complete album?

Rieseberg: That’s super interesting. Originally, we planned on making it a double record, [with] a brutal, darker, extremely heavy side — just barn-burners — and then the other side would be more like Crack the Sky — ethereal, big, beautiful, soulful songs. But instead of doing a double record, we condensed it down all into one album. We were aiming for some of our most beautiful music to be made, but also aiming to do some of our most heavy material — some of the darkest stuff we’ve done.

When we combined those two together, it made for just some heavier extremes, I would say. And then just playing with the track order, trying to just balance those songs out within the scope of the record —  we experimented quite a bit to get it to fit together in the album context in a cool way.

Jefferson County Journal: What happened to the rest of the songs from that planned double album that didn’t make the cut? Will they resurface at some point?

Rieseberg: I could see them being something down the road, doing something with it. But who knows? For this record, it just made sense to leave them off and make it a little more condensed. But I could see doing something with it someday for sure, because we really liked the material.

Jefferson County Journal: You mentioned the long gestation process for these songs. Have you learned anything new about them, or have they evolved somehow, now that you’re preparing to play them in a live setting?

Rieseberg: Yeah. [Laughs] That’s funny, man — we’ve had to like, learn the songs. They changed so much while we were in the studio, so we had to re-learn the songs to the way we laid them down. Just trying to learn all that stuff that we did [on the album] and to be able to step up to that level live… I feel like we really stepped up in the studio.

I think this is my favorite record that we’ve made together, the three of us, and it’s never really felt better. We just needed to step up to that level live.

Jefferson County Journal: What does that mean for the makeup of the live show? Will we be seeing mostly new tracks, or a mix of old and new material?

Rieseberg: At this point, we have the whole record polished up and ready to play live. I think we’re just going to feel it out as we go. We might leave one song off, but mostly it’s going to be the new record, give or take a couple of old tunes. We have a bunch of those ready, and I think we’re just going to call it as we go and see what we feel like playing, to try and balance out the Our Raw Heart album material. But mostly, the new record.

Jefferson County Journal: This tour is with Bell Witch, of which you’re a professed fan. Are you excited to perform with them every night?

Rieseberg: In more than one way. I love Dylan [Desmond] and Jesse [Shreibman] both. They’re both good buddies. Dylan is one of my favorite bass players, so I’m really excited to watch them play this new material. I haven’t seen them perform any of the Mirror Reaper stuff, and it really is my favorite stuff they’ve done. I’m very excited to see it. I hope they play that record, or at least part of it, if they can. I’m just excited to see them play, but especially to watch Dylan’s bass work, man. He’s a trip. One of my favorite bass players in doom metal. He’s a unique beast.

Jefferson County Journal: You’ve got your own group, NORSKA — for which, unlike YOB, you’re one of the principal songwriters. How has working with Mike on YOB’s material shaped the way you approach NORSKA’s music?

Rieseberg: That’s a very good question, man. I learned a lot working with Travis and Mike. I would say the biggest thing that’s influenced me is the songwriting portion. I’ve learned a lot about patience and the scope of a song, and, like, pacing, and how you pace [transitioning one part of a song to another].

A lot of that experience went into Too Many Winters, that last NORSKA record. I write a lot more of the stuff in NORSKA. In YOB, Mike writes the music and then we work together on the songs, expand them, and make them bloom. But with the NORSKA stuff, a lot of the ideas start with me and are fleshed out by me. So it’s a very different role from playing with YOB, when I’m working in the context of Mike’s songs. With NORSKA, I’m creating the beginnings of what we flesh out together and writing skeletons.  They taught me a lot about patience — that’s the big one — and pacing a song.

Yob will perform at Saturn Birmingham on Tuesday, June 19. Bell Witch and Hexxus will open. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information, click here.