Our Raw Heart
Our Raw Heart presents two of YOB's strongest sides. The guitars can push forwards with rough, slow weight, while melodies also have room to open the music out. Mike Scheidt's voice connects those extremes. Clean singing, harsher cries and deeper sounds keep giving the long songs a different character.
Ablaze brings that approach together immediately. Heavy riffs continue moving beneath a voice which offers more than a threatening background. It sets the tone for a record where the singing carries an important part of the development. The band sound huge without losing sight of the individual parts.
The repeating guitar pattern in The Screen is more angular and tightly controlled. Its almost mechanical movement creates a different kind of pressure from the spacious opening. In Reverie also maintains a particularly heavy foundation. These songs make sure the record's more melodic side never replaces YOB's harder edge.
Beauty in Falling Leaves gives that melodic side plenty of time. Layers of guitar ring out while the singing maintains a clear line. The title track ends the record with a similarly open approach. Quieter sounds and heavier passages feel like parts of the same story because their melodies hold them together.
The size remains something to consider. The longer songs move at their own pace and cannot easily be squeezed into a quick listen. There is enough variety, however, to prevent the whole record becoming one stretch of slow heaviness. Our Raw Heart mainly shows how much expression YOB can draw from that foundation. Its firmest riffs and most open melodies strengthen one another, with a voice which keeps even the largest passages human.
