BARONESS — Blue Record (review)

BARONESS — Blue Record album cover Album · 2009 · Sludge Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2.5/5 ·
topofsm
Baroness released their Blue Record in 2009 to much critical acclaim. Though they spent their previous work including their debut album and their EPs wandering around in the growing scene of mainstream sludge metal, causing them to be often labeled as an inferior form of Mastodon. In this album they seem to evade that categorization a bit more, though they still need may need additional experience to be taken seriously as a band capable of creating masterwork.

That's not to say that the band has poor musicianship or compositional abilities. It's just that there's very little in the way of impressive musical ideas, technical or otherwise. The guitar is pretty standard for metal, the drums are simple enough that they could fit into a standard rock album, and the vocals aren't anything special.

The album's only strength seems to be the songwriting style, which is somewhat complex, using a variety of riffs in each song as opposed to repetition and standard song structure. That being said, the riffs themselves are still fairly standard and the rhythms are basic. There's still a bit of atmosphere that adds to the progressive nature of Blue Record, though not enough to accurately call it an atmospheric metal work.

Standout tracks would be "A Horse Called Golgotha" which is a fast paced song with driving tempo and moving drums, with probably the catchiest chorus. The 'filler' type tracks are nice as well, but hardly necessary on the album, a couple could easily be taken out. "The Gnashing" is also fairly good, starting out as a lazy bluesy guitar strum, eventually building into a solid rocker. However, for the most part, the songs on Blue Record are pretty unmemorable.

All in all, a better effort could have been put into this work. As leaders in the current sludge scene one would suspect that they have more up their sleeve than this.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

For Those Who Breathe From Darkness Metalcore
OATHSWAN
Buy this album from MMA partners
Terror Butcher Goregrind
TERROR BUTCHER
Buy this album from MMA partners
About Life Sludge Metal
THROATSNAPPER
Buy this album from MMA partners
Bag Seeker Sludge Metal
BORER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Stygian Rose Traditional Doom Metal
CRYPT SERMON
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Throatsnapper - Brilliant Insane (official video)
THROATSNAPPER
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Throatsnapper - Getting even (official video)
THROATSNAPPER
Bosh66· 1 day ago
From Wood To Gallows (official)
THROATSNAPPER
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Throatsnapper - Why (official video)
THROATSNAPPER
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Median - Turn Back Time (Official Music Video)
MEDIAN (TRE)
Bosh66· 1 day ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed