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Baroness - Yellow & Green review




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Reviewer:
8.0

248 users:
7.81
Band: Baroness
Album: Yellow & Green
Release date: July 2012


Disc I
01. Yellow Theme
02. Take My Bones Away
03. March To The Sea
04. Little Things
05. Twinkler
06. Cocainium
07. Back Where I Belong
08. Sea Lungs
09. Eula

Disc II
01. Green Theme
02. Board Up The House
03. Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor)
04. Foolsong
05. Collapse
06. Psalms Alive
07. Stretchmarker
08. The Line Between
09. If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry

Here's a band that has picked up a notable amount of steam over the past few years; Red Album was generally received warmly, building up perfectly to the staggering amounts of praise for Blue Record. The pressure is on. How do they live up to it? By throwing us a goddamn curve-ball, is what.

Of course you all like curve-balls. Well, not all of you will like this one. Yellow has a distinctly mainstream, radio rock appeal. It seems they figured their flavour of Savannah Sludge was being taken over by similar acts like Kylesa and Black Tusk, it was time to shake things up. This result of changing things up with their cleanest, catchiest, most melodic piece to date. Some of these tracks have such an arena-rock sort of feel to them, it becomes increasingly difficult to really call this a sludge band anymore.

The kicker? Despite having an obviously intentional high level of accessibility to it, Yellow is still thoughtfully built from the ground up. The guitar work is incredibly dynamic, even if it completely lacks many of the rougher edges you have come to expect from this band.

That's the Yellow side. Green side is a totally different story. No, it's not back to actual sludge, but even further away. It's a really mellow ("The Line Between" aside), bizarre form of old school prog going on. Not quite as memorable or notable as Yellow, Green is well worth the listen if for nothing else than witnessing the contrast this band is capable of pulling off.

In the end, Yellow & Green is a toss-up. People expecting to hear Baroness revisit Red Album are going to be sorely disappointed. However, open minds may be quite impressed by this bands calculated maturation into a band built on well-structured riffs, diversity, and accessibility.





Written on 10.07.2012 by Former EIC. Now just a reviewer guy.


Comments page 2 / 2

Comments: 35   Visited by: 393 users
20.07.2012 - 05:53
Rating: 6
BitterCOld
The Ancient One
I like it. i wish there was a little more distortion going on... but i could clearly see where metal (only) fans would be immensely disappointed by this. not terribly surprising given the direction they headed from Red to Blue.
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get the fuck off my lawn.

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20.07.2012 - 06:11
Rating: 7
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Written by BitterCOld on 20.07.2012 at 05:53

I like it. i wish there was a little more distortion going on... but i could clearly see where metal (only) fans would be immensely disappointed by this. not terribly surprising given the direction they headed from Red to Blue.

Agreed on all parts, Good album even if it is their worst. I'd give it a mid 7, but I need to listen to it a little more.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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20.07.2012 - 16:17
Velvet Thorns

Incredible, i adore it !!!
being a fan ever since the Red i must say Y&G is getting better and stronger with each song and every time i listen to it and i'm totally addicted
every detail is perfect and as always everything about Baizley is so sexy, and so many love songs... he must be in love...
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restless oblivion forever
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12.10.2012 - 04:20
mes

I feel as though the point at which this band started off may have deceived some people as to the true nature of the tunes... Personally the progression through Baroness' releases has sounded very organic and natural to me, like was mentioned before that they're maturing instead of kneejerking to people playing their sound or trying to throw a curveball for shenanigans, something like that. It seemed from the beginning that they were never just going to drop into a Red Fang/Black Tusk/Colorful Mouth-Bone band muck orgy, there were always the little lilting bits over the top, just behind. It just feels to me now that these elements have been brought to the fore, and the band seem like they have the confidence to work off of those instead of infiltrating them through thick riffage.

This is an amazing album to just drive/smoke/relax to, and i hold these guys in the same regard as ever. Does this mean im not allowed to listen to Brutal Death any more?
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02.12.2012 - 18:03
Rating: 5
Kuroboshi

"Green is well worth the listen if for nothing else than witnessing the contrast this band is capable of pulling off."

I would say this about both sides of the album. They are very able. It's just not interesting enough. "Cocainium" is quite nice though. Don't like the wailing voice the singer's got going.
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