(Drivebycuriosity) - I am a connoisseur of heavy metal. I really enjoy atmospheric music with very heavy riffs. YOB belongs to the best of the genre (alongside Amenra, Neurosis & Cough) and I collect their albums and visit their shows.
Last weekend my wife and I attended the 3-day heavy metal open air festival Fire in the Mountains in Wyoming and saw them again. The fest showed 2 sides of YOB. First there was a solo performance by Mike Scheidt, the front man, followed by a gig performed by the complete band.
Mike Scheidt performed Friday, the first evening of the festival. Mike is a virtuoso on the guitar and he put his audience under the spell of massive and violent riffs blended with melodic and almost symphonic elements.
Like
a singer in a
bizarre opera his voice and virtuous guitar technique mesmerized and hynotized the crowd. Scheidt presented some of his lyric balladesque compositions and crowned his show with the mesmerizing "Marrow," a poem turned into heavy metal (here the lyrics genius.com).
Scheidt´s presentation of "Marrow" especially reminded me of a recent visit of Berlin. There I watched a performance of Richard Wagner´s opera "Lohengrin" where a mystical character named Swan Knight appeared and sang about the power of the Holy Grail. Days later I enjoyed YOB @ Berlin´s Desert Fest and Scheidt´s performance showed a similar pathos & beauty.
On Sunday, day 3 of FITM, Mike Scheidt returned, then with the complete band: Aaron Rieseberg – bass guitar & Travis Foster – drums. Instead of opera we got pure mayhem. YOB´s show was hyper explosive & violent. The aggressive riffs & Scheidt`s roars and growls melted into a spell binding experience - pure bliss.
YOB´s performance was as massive as the impressive Teton range mountain group on the horizon, whose peaks & glaciers define the whole area (in the low left corner of some pics).
Thank you Mike Scheidt & YOB.
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