Baroness - Yellow & Green

Baroness last album, the blue one, was as close to perfect as sludgemetal will ever get, so the pressure is on to see if John Baizley and co. can deliver again. Of course they can, not only this highly anticipated new record eclipses the enthralling majesty of “Blue Record”, it’s also heading straight towards the top of the year-end charts. To rise to the challenge, this time they’re doing a few things differently, their music is still richly textured and intricate, blending influences of straight-up sludge, 70’s rock and prog, yet it’s perfectly clear on the very first listening that “Yellow & Green” takes a couple of interesting turns towards a more streamlined and shall I say mainstream rock genre.
The songs have more space to breathe resulting on some of most memorable pieces Baroness have ever created. Pieces such as “Takes My Bones Away”, which is surely one of the catchiest sing-along tune of this summer. Another noticeable change lies in the vocalizations Baroness frontman. Gone are the howls and growls of Baizley, instead the singer now focus on a clean and soulful performance that will surely put all the singing members of Kylesa and Mastodon to shame. I mean, this guy can truly sing.

People can yammer away all they want about the differences between this new effort and previous ones and how Baroness are slowly moving towards a more commercial sound, but who cares? This is still Baroness and they’ve penned one the year’s best albums regardless of what style or genre it fits in. (9/10)

David Alexandre 

Band info: www.baronessmusic.com 

Label info: www.relapse.com