YOB formed in Eugene, Oregon in 1996 under the direction of guitarist and vocalist Mike Scheidt, building a body of work that stands among the most singular and emotionally resonant in American doom metal. After an initial period of activity through 2005, Scheidt reformed the band in 2008 and continued with bassist Aaron Rieseberg and drummer Dave French, releasing a sequence of acclaimed albums — Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014), and Our Raw Heart (2018, Relapse Records) — the latter composed while Scheidt recovered from a near-fatal intestinal disease. Their capacity to sustain long-form compositions of both crushing weight and genuine transcendence has made them a defining act in modern doom.