A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the new album from Oregon doom trio Yob, Clearing The Path To Ascend, and rather than repost my entire review here, I’ll leave you with the two sentences that matter:

“Yob are the best doom band in the world today, and Clearing The Path To Ascend is the best doom album you’ll hear this year. It is, quite possibly, the best metal album you’ll hear this year, maybe the best album of the year, period.”

There are a couple qualifiers in there, which I offered for the benefit of the reader. I won’t hedge here, though: Right now, Clearing The Path To Ascend is my favorite album of 2014. For me, its only real competition is At The Gates’ At War With Reality, and that’s at least partly because the mere existence of At War With Reality feels somewhat miraculous. Clearing The Path To Ascend arrives with no such Homeric backstory, though; it is simply a gigantic fucking masterpiece that has spent more time on my headphones this year than anything else, maybe more than everything else combined (again, leaving aside At The Gates). We’ve got Clearing The Path To Ascend streaming in full right now, and if you have a free hour and the ability to listen LOUD, you gotta do it.

Clearing The Path To Ascend is out 9/2 via Neurot.