Now for something on the lighter side of the spectrum. Baroness' Red Album is considered a "progressive metal" album, mainly thanks to rhythm guitarist, lead vocalist and album artwork-ist John Baizely's gruff roars and growls. But sonically, I think this band shares much more in common with alternative rock acts like Queens of the Stone Age, or even Thrice, than they do with the world of progressive metal music. These comparisons are even easier to make with Baroness' latest material, which has ditched the growls in favour of clean singing entirely.
Baroness are a band that have shown an incredibly consistent evolution with their albums, to the point where their latest offering Yellow & Green, turned me into a huge fan. All of their albums have been critically acclaimed, but they've definitely been gathering momentum as they continued to churn out inspired album after inspired album. I remember that I wasn't floored by the Red Album when it first dropped, mainly because my interests lay with heavier and more extreme music at the time. But I do remember that it piqued my interest as something that was unique. I was like "this is stoner metal, or whatever they call it? And I like it? Weird!" before putting Red on the back burner, until 2009's Blue Record suddenly reminded me that the band existed.
After finally giving this album another good, solid listen, I can say that I definitely undervalued Baroness' efforts to create something unique and really just beautiful. The sounds and melodies on Red are as lush and colourful as Baizely's artwork. Album highlights like Isak, and Rays On Pinion showcase the bands' technical talent and musicianship, while crafting a soundscape that is enthralling as it is gorgeous.
But here's the biggest problem with the Red Album, after its strong first half, the album kind of loses its attractiveness and dips down into a bit of progressive noodling. Not in the sense of a Dream Theatre album or anything like that, but songs like Teeth of a Cogwheel seem to exist as a way of showing off what the band can do with their instruments. Instead of adding to the atmosphere of the album, it sounds more like I'm now just listening to the band try out their new pedals and tech in their jam space. Thankfully, this is a brief foray, and the band delves right back into a heady atmospheric space with O'appalachia. Only this time, the song sounds more like a tune written by instrumentalists Pelican than it does a Baroness song. Oh well. The first half of this album is so strong, and Baroness have evolved so much since this debut full-length that faults like these can easily be forgiven.
If you dig alternative rock, stoner rock, or progressive metal at all, check this album out and work your way up to the magnum opus that is the Yellow & Green album.
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