Clearing the Path to Ascend

Clearing the Path to Ascend is the seventh studio album by American doom metal band YOB. It was released in September 2014 under Neurot Recordings. Rolling Stone named it the best metal album^[12] and the 50th best album overall^[13] of the year.

Clearing the Path to Ascend
Studio album by YOB
Released	September 4, 2014 (2014-09-04)
Genre	Doom metal, sludge metal
Length	62:30
Label	Neurot
YOB chronology
Atma (2011) Clearing the Path to Ascend (2014) Our Raw Heart (2018)

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	B+[3]
Blabbermouth	9/10[4]
Exclaim!	8/10[5]
Kerrang!	[6]
Metal Hammer	[7]
MetalSucks	[8]
musicOMH	[9]
Pitchfork	8.2/10[10]
Sputnikmusic	2.8/5[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"In Our Blood"	16:56
2.	"Nothing to Win"	11:21
3.	"Unmask the Spectre"	15:25
4.	"Marrow"	18:48
Total length:		62:30

Personnel

YOB^[14][15]

• Mike Scheidt – vocal, guitars
• Aaron Rieseberg – bass
• Travis Foster – drums

Additional musicians^[14]

• Billy Barnett – hammond organ

Production^[14]

• Billy Barnett – engineer
• Brad Boatright – mastering

Design^[14]

• Orion Landau – artwork