YOB

With songs regularly averaging upward of ten minutes (and sometimes as much as 20 and beyond), Portland, OR's YOB are clearly not a commercial heavy metal band, but rather fuse elements of doom, sludge, space, and progressive rock into interesting combinations so as to belie their bloated girth. Founded in 2000 by vocalist/guitarist Mike Scheidt, with bassist Lowell Iles and drummer Gabe Morley, YOB issued 2002's Elaborations of Carbon before admitting a new rhythm section of Isamu Sato (bass) and Travis Foster (drums), and fast-delivering ensuing efforts Catharsis (2003), The Illusion of Motion (2004), and The Unreal Never Lived (2005). Each garnered more acclaim than the last, and the final pair reflected that growth by finding the band plucked from tiny local label exile by the historic Metal Blade Records.