Plummeting back down to Earth, our eyes creak open to find overall-clad men towering over us, pitchforks in hand and necks reddening in the hot Georgia sun...
#8
Baroness - Yellow & Green
Stoner metal wasteoids have bemoaned Baroness’ ever dwindling ferrous content as red albums cooled to blue records and steadily exited the primary spectrum altogether. In an age where we have the technology to augment our “scary music innit” with ProTools sorcery, it’s inevitable to think less of a band if they dial it down a bit. If we remember their guitars were once connected to nature, and the sound of their natural creaks and supple twangs can be heard then it’s game over, pal. But all the pissing about Baroness’ post being forwarded out of the metal abyss have cascaded unflinchingly on urine-soaked ears. Their prodigious talents behind the studio glass still feels palpable and immediate. The fire in Baroness' red belly might have gone out but the ashes still have the power to seize and choke us. Sounding down home and out, Baroness' hearts surrender to the darkness. As they weave their twisted lines of bluegrass and soulful metal into us, so do we.
From the review, posted at TheVine.com.au
Mid-tempo 'Board up the House' brims with swampy undulating bass and breezy guitar jangle; Weezer may talk of bringing “death to false metal” but this track walks the walk. 'Board' would herald the unrelenting storm of a (much welcomed) great poser massacre, occurring somewhere in the dustbowls of Tennessee. Hell, I can almost envision Baizley and co. stepping forward into a tin-can microphone in some beat-up, beige-walled studio to harmonize the immense bluegrass-style refrain.
[...]
Though metalheads will scratch their head and wonder “where the fuck is the metal?” on this record, I submit to you – over 75 minutes with scarcely a naff moment to be heard, does it really matter where it went?
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The Honorable Mentions