Baroness' Blue Record

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   This is possibly my favourite rock album of the year.

Baroness are honestly not particularly prog in my book (but they're on PA so I figure I can get away with bringing them up here) but I really enjoy Blue Record. I pay it about the highest compliment I can when I say that it's too short. When its 44 mins have rolled by, you feel unsatisfied and need to play it again. They sound a lot like Mastodon (and are from Georgia too) but Blue Record does not have the "trying-too-hard" vibe that spoiled Crack The Skye for me. Baroness sound relaxed even as they play complex and powerful metal- they've remembered not to get too serious, keeping it loose and fun while still being adventurous.
Though on paper Blue Record might look like a slight album- it hardly reinvents notions of space and time or does something astonishingly amazing we have never heard before- it's been executed so well that it adds up to more than the sum of its parts. There's violent noise, there's unexpected beauty, there are even catchy hooks.
So anyway, just thought I'd plug it in the hopes more would check it out. But just a warning, it's more "arty hard rock" than out and out prog.

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Textbook Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: October 08 2009 Status: Offline Points: 3281	Topic: Baroness' Blue Record Posted: December 15 2009 at 20:21
	This is possibly my favourite rock album of the year. Baroness are honestly not particularly prog in my book (but they're on PA so I figure I can get away with bringing them up here) but I really enjoy Blue Record. I pay it about the highest compliment I can when I say that it's too short. When its 44 mins have rolled by, you feel unsatisfied and need to play it again. They sound a lot like Mastodon (and are from Georgia too) but Blue Record does not have the "trying-too-hard" vibe that spoiled Crack The Skye for me. Baroness sound relaxed even as they play complex and powerful metal- they've remembered not to get too serious, keeping it loose and fun while still being adventurous. Though on paper Blue Record might look like a slight album- it hardly reinvents notions of space and time or does something astonishingly amazing we have never heard before- it's been executed so well that it adds up to more than the sum of its parts. There's violent noise, there's unexpected beauty, there are even catchy hooks. So anyway, just thought I'd plug it in the hopes more would check it out. But just a warning, it's more "arty hard rock" than out and out prog.

AmbianceMan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: November 30 2009 Location: Dayton, OH Status: Offline Points: 113	Posted: December 15 2009 at 20:33
	I bought it myself a couple weeks ago. At first I wasn't sure about it but it grew on me. While not "prog" in the strictest sense, I liked the various guitar sounds. They put interesting takes on the conventional heavy riff sound and the guitar harmonies are interesting, especially Black Powder Orchard, one of my faves even though it isn't a heavy song. I would give it 3.5 stars. I bought PT's "The Incident" at the same time and I can't quite rank Baroness' Blue Record up there with that album, but it's good.