So the new Baroness is solid. They continue to veer away from metal and into a weird grey area between metal and indie rock. But aside from dummies like me, who's this record going to appeal to? Can this cross over with more success than the (amazing) last Torche album? It'll have many metal purists thinking 'false', while it's still too heavy for the indie kids.― A. Begrand,
Did you review the Baroness somewhere Adrien? I'd like to read it. Count me in on one of the "dummies" that it will probably appeal to!
― Bill Magill,
Haven't reviewed it yet, just listened for the first time last night. But yeah, if you liked the more accessible parts of The Red Album, you'll love the blue one.
― A. Begrand,
Listening to the new Baroness now. I don't hear any huge leaps forward from Red Album; they've just decided they're really good at what they do and are gonna stick with it for a while. But it is really, really good. Between this and Crack the Skye, it's a really good year for heavy Southern prog.
― unperson,
OK, ignore my previous post. What you really need to know about the new Baroness album is that "A Horse Called Golgotha" is 2009's ultimate, smash-all-your-furniture, burn-the-house-down, run-naked-through-the-streets guitar jam. Fucking killer. When they bust this one out live (and they will), grown men will weep openly.
― unperson,
new baroness sounds cool too. expanding on the red album formula is fine by me.
― picture me lolin' (Alan N),
Baroness is a corker.
― Doran,
Phil OTM re: new Baroness. i like the anthemic quality of some of the tracks. plus the occasional Frippery guitar parts. more Yes please.
― all you need is love vs. money (that's what i want) (Ioannis),
With the Baroness album I love how it straddles metal, prog, and accessible jammy rock so effortlessly. And for all the noodling, there's a sense of restraint there, the hook gets top priority, not the technical flash. Plus these guys have a better sense of groove than a band like Mastodon (great as they are) ever will.
― A. Begrand,
Re Baroness: Yeah, there's definite bleed-through from one track to the next, plus the whole album is kinda linked/looping in structure
Yeah I started to hear a bunch of the repeated themes after another listen this morning.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver,
Baroness album is fucking awesome. the more Yes and psychedelic the better
― Mr. Big Boy Talk (surfboard dudes get wiped out, totally),
finally listened to the baroness last night. really impressed.
― picture me lolin' (Alan N),
That Baroness might be my favorite 2009 album of any genre. So excited to see them in NYC next month.
― Comfort Me With Apples (Jon Lewis),
Huh. An 8.5 for Baroness doesn't qualify them for 'Best New Music'? Just give up the metal coverage if you don't really want to acknowledge it Pitchfork.
― & other try hard shitfests (jon /via/ chi 2.0),
New Baroness is very pretty late night background guitar Muzak -- soundtrack-metal with some Southern rock guitar parts, though no real boogie rhythm I can detect. I'm not trying to be backhanded; I've actually played the thing quite a bit this month. It even has a shot at the lower reaches of my top ten (maybe the only loud rock album with a shot at my top ten, unless Death, who recorded their album over three decades ago, count), though that says a lot about how unimpressive this year has been. None of the songs have sunk in as songs, and I definitely don't listen to it like I would a great hard rock record.
― xhuxk, Monday, 2 November 2009 21:25
btw, if people are hearing actual discrete concrete rock songs on that new Baroness album, I'd love to know which tracks they are. Maybe the thing's better than I've been giving it credit for -- I'm just saying how it's hit me so far. Has a fucking gorgeous CD cover, either way. (So did their last one, as I recall. And I like how this one sounds more than that one.)
And also fwiw, I've definitely heard other hard rock records this year (Cheap Trick included) that I thought were at least okay enough to keep, at least for now (though I'll no doubt clear the shelves of a bunch of those after the year's over, as usual). Listed a bunch upthread somewhere. Just none that have really stuck with me, and I've obsessively returned to.
― xhuxk, Monday, 2 November 2009 22:06
With regard to xhuxk's question: "Swollen and Halo" and "A Horse Called Golgotha," for me, are the best *songs* on the Baroness record (which is my favorite album this year). They're the album's big epic moments, but they're also catchy as heck and tightly constructed (the noodly outro on "Swollen" aside). I think they're probably the songs most frequently mentioned in reviews, too (except for maybe "Steel that Sleeps the Eye," which is cool but not really a *song*). So add that to unperson's recommendations and you have about half the album covered.
― Sonic Bum,
― Pfunkboy (Herman G. Neuname), Friday, 22 January 2010 23:12 (sixteen years ago)