the second record in line which got re-issued by metal blade records is yob's full length from 2005 called "the unreal never lived". this album marks the beginning of dark times for this great band. the album dropped and soon after bass-player sato and drummer foster left the band for unknown reasons. mike scheidt later decided to call it a day for yob and went on to focus on his new band middian.
but middian was doomed from the start and they soon disbanded because of a law suit concerning the naming rights. so thankfully scheidt re-grouped yob in 2008. but back to "the unreal never lived". it was the second and last full length for the label and i heard rumours that mb dropped them like a hot potato. can't say if that is true and usually there are always two sides to every question but i think it wasn't the worst decision of the band to return to a smaller label like southern lord, 20 buck spin or neurot.
anyway, the label didn't affect the quality of this record at all. compared to "the illusion of motion" the band pushed its sound to new heights. they added a good portion atmosphere to their progressive doom metal and began to evolve this gloomy, dreamy gene in their d.n.a. which i fell in love with on "atma". the songs have more depth and on this album there are influences of other bands to be heard, sure, but there is none that yob sounds alike. they became a kind of their own.
in 2005 this album was released on cd only. looking back in their discography it seemed that happened to a lot of yob releases. up to "the great cessation" all their albums had a minimum delay of six years before they got the vinyl treatment. in this case it took metal blade seven years to come up with the first vinyl pressing of "the unreal...". in 2012 they did two colour-ways with 250 copies each. again they switched two songs. "kosmos" now being the closing title instead of "the mental tyrant".
seems like an idiotic idea because i cannot see why somebody would do that. mb held on to this idiocy with this recent pressing. luckily the bonus song "essence" is still there too because it is a real scorcher. i chose the silver vinyl here which was the most limited colour and thus is numbered. mine is #083/300. same presentation as on "the illusion...". gatefold sleeve, two-sided poster and a little downer being the flimsy vinyl. 180gr would have been appropriate. metal blade records. 2005/2016.
