Baroness
Blue Record
**** out of *****
Like an undefeated heavy-weight prize-fighter who recites 15th century French poetry between brawls, Georgia-based sludge band Baroness’s latest release, Blue Record, is charged with colossal power and finesse.
Blue Record is a fitting conceptual follow-up to the group’s 2007 Red Album, though it’s undeniably more subdued record than its earlier counterpart. Instead of Baroness using sheer demolition on every track, Blue Record’s destructiveness is broken up by extensive recordings of virtuosic acoustic and clean guitar, and deep, sweeping sonic oscillations. This approach softens the overall intensity of the record, giving it a cooler, darker feel than Red Album, but it also provides a nice veil of mystical comfort from behind which utterly hellacious fuzzed-out guitar riffs wait to strike.
And strike they do. The guitaring in Blue Record is powerful. The heavy distortion on the chugging, undulating verse riffs is impeccably complimented by a frequent lead fuzz tone that brings to mind images of a Velcro factory just set ablaze. The teamwork heard between guitarists John Baizley and Peter Adams creates a dense harmonic landscape that frequently explodes from in an inferno of relentless rhythmic smashes by drummer Allen Blickle.
Blue Record requires repetition. Though it exhibits a straight-forward stoner/sludge metal style, the copious amounts of unfamiliar sounds that reside within it cascade upon each other in such a dense, unpredictable way that everything cannot be caught during the first listen. While there is always a standout tune waiting to grab the attention, Baroness has a way of incorporating equally exciting melodies in the backgrounds of its songs.
And it’s almost too much. By the end of the album, it’s tiring to try and grasp all the intricacies floating around behind those volatile guitars. And sometimes that volatility is just as overwhelming. The sounds range from straight-up acoustic strumming, to chorus-sounding clean finger-picking, to the-guitar-must-be-on-fire fuzzes. Just trying to follow the tone shifts can get tiresome, but whether that is a complaint or an endorsement is a judgment call.
— by Ryan Fosmark
