(Blue Record has more than awesome album art)
I've been holding off from reviewing this album for a couple weeks. It might be that I'm extremely biased going in having read other reviews. Decibel magazine gave it 10/10 and went so far to call it album of the year (they're right). Metalsucks.net gave it 4 1/2 out of 5 horns. Metal Injection hails it as a return to what "Epic" truly is. And truthfully, I can't agree more. After using Blue Record as the background music for my late night homework excursions (and thus listening to it between ten and fifteen times in a row), I figure I should toss my hat in the ring and give it my review.
I want to keep this as short as possible as not to sound like I'm masterbating over this whole album.
Blue Record opens with a lulling mellow track "Bullhead's Psalm" before pushing you off the deep end into the heavy riffage of "The Sweetest Curse." The album takes off running, taunting you to catch up. I'll stop myself from writing a song by song review now, thank you.
Blue Record is filled with lows and highs, soft and rough sonic textures, peaks and valleys, heavy riffs and proggy tones all combining to make an EPIC record. Let's talk about those last two. This album is very heavy. To counter that Baroness has expertly used prog-rock meleodies, and they've done it without sounding overly-wanky (my main beef with prog). This is a heavy metal album, but believe me if you like anything that resembles "rock" music, you will like this album. You'll enjoy the album, but tracks to watch out for are: "The Sweetest Curse", "Jake Leg", "A Horse Called Golgotha" and "The Gnashing."
This is album of the year. I encourage everyone to give it a listen on Baroness' myspace. The entire Blue Record is streaming there. Listen to it for free, if you like it support this awesome band by buying some merch (they have a t-shirt cd combo for cheap).
For blowing minds, pushing heavy metal forward and expanding metal beyond a niche genre, Baroness' Blue Record recieves FIVE OUT OF FIVE HAMMERS!
[Baroness' Blue Record was released on October 13th, 2009 on Relapse Records. Total play time: 44:25]
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I agree with 5 hammers but I don't think I'd call it my album of the year. That honor is bestowed upon Kylesa's Static Tensions unless somebody comes out of left field and knocks it from its perch.
ReplyDeleteNot even two hours later and I might have to retract that statement. I finally listened to the new Converge and it just may win the year for me.
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