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| Artist: | Baroness |
| Title: | Red Album |
| Label: | Relapse Records |
| Price: | $12.00 |
| Generic Mastodon comparison title. - 80% |
| Written by Skammdegisthunglyndi on January 30th, 2008 |
| Despite a relatively meager output of two EPs and a split release Baroness have already built themselves a formidable reputation in sludge circles and across the metal spectrum in general. It's no surprise therefore that their debut full length has become one of the most anticipated releases of the year. With First and Second setting such high expectations for the band the Red Album has some pretty big shoes to fill. To get it out of the way, the Mastodon comparisons are unavoidable; the Southern-tinged progressive sludge genre isn't exactly flooded. First and Second managed to seamlessly blend the rawking sludge aggression of Remission with the proggier sensibilities of Leviathan whilst still retaining a unique flair. Interestingly enough Red Album appears to have followed Blood Mountain in so much as Baroness have cleaned themselves up and gone a bit more Rush and a little less EyeHateGod. The trademark interwoven melodies and pissed off lumberjack vocals are still all there, but it's with less crunch and more widdle. Opener 'Rays On Pinion' is a much more subdued affair than either 'Tower Falls' or 'Red Sky' with slow building tribal-like tom work and clean leads that flutter about like moths to a flame. Even when it kicks in the expected aggression is eschewed for a more focused drive. The album as a whole feels more streamlined, the band have matured and honed their sound with each passage flowing smoothly to the next with military precision. Each note feels meticulously crafted but not forced. They've taken the Mastodon style southern licks from songs like 'Megalodon' and 'Crusher Destroyer' and extrapolated them, carrying them through to a conclusion in 'The Birthing'. The instrumental piece 'Cockroach En Fleur' is evocative of Tony Furtado's trademark slide piece 'Cypress Grove' and closing track (excluding the hidden one) 'Grad' comes across like an up tempo Earth circa 'Hex...'. Even Welch's gruff vocals now soar over the top with subtle melody, rather than barking from beneath. Baroness have clearly hit their stride and Red Album is the triumphant culmination of their efforts to date and an impressive excerise in diversity. It takes a few listens to readjust and let it all sink in and the maturation of the sound may loose a few fans among those who were longing for a sludgier full length. However, this release sees them stepping out of Mastodon's shadow with their own unique take on the genre. |
| Great 3rd album. - 80% |
| Written by olo on November 21st, 2007 |
| With the popularity of Mastodon, Yakuza, this year's Danava among others, record labels clearly want to promote more bands that play dirty metal/hardcore rooted music but take it to another level with influences from various other genres. Georgia's Baroness releasing their latest album on Relapse just sealed the deal for me. Baroness is led by John Baizley who plays guitars, handles the vocals and gets the credit for the brilliant album artwork too (see above). Allen Blickle on drums, Brian Blickle on guitars and Summer Welch on bass complete their lineup on this album. John says there's a concept behind the name of the band which he doesn't want to reveal to the audience. Baroness also doesn't give any special names to their albums. The first album is called One, the second one Two and followed that by a really good split with Unpersons earlier this year, and now this is their third album titled The Red Album. I know, as straightforward as a Russian named Ivan, a French named Pierre, a Korean named Kim, Mexican named Chico or even a Nepali named Bahadur. It's difficult to come up with a straight forward description of what this album sounds like. A parallel can be drawn to the metal-hardcore-sludge influenced bands that play progressive/experimental music (Neurosis, Pelican and the whole ilk) but not just that. Another parallel can be drawn to what Mastodon is doing with the similar styles of influences too. There are similarities during the more ferocious riffing parts of this music and the vocal stylings. The Red Album isn't as sludgy as they were prior to this album. They've toned the fury down a wee bit, have written more accessible and catchy melodies but with the song structures that's more downright prog and epic than before. They mix that up with things like trippy spacey passages that build up to something heavy and even sweet guitar harmonies thrown in. This is still going to be a difficult album for mainstream appeal but hell, if the bands mentioned at the beginning of the review are getting some attention, these guys just might too. This might just become the era of new prog soon. But let's not bother about all that shit, just get this album. http://www.kvltsite.com |
taken from: metal-archives.com
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