BARONESS — Purple (review)

BARONESS — Purple album cover Album · 2015 · Stoner Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Kingcrimsonprog
After two great sludgy and slightly proggy bruisers in the form of Red Album and Blue Record, Baroness pulled a dramatic change of direction with their third full-length record, the double album Yellow & Green. That album was pretty much a masterpiece which really expanded the band’s possibilities, even if it was in a way more commercial and less heavy.

With their fourth album, Purple, the swampy southern band tries to bridge the two worlds, taking the more obvious singles from each of their eras, mixing them together, and using the mixture as the template for an album worth of banging, interesting, well-crafted rock music. It’s a bit less Radiohead than Green but its also a bit less Mastodon than Blue Record.

The direction is one thing; the quality is what’s important. There’s no questions on the quality front whatsoever. You might not like the lack of heaviness or the lack of prog, but you cannot disagree that this is one well-made collection of tunes. The musicianship is great, the production is great, the vocals are getting better, and the songs are memorable. Month’s after my first listen I still find myself humming the likes of ‘Kerosene’ and ‘The Iron Bell,’ I still find my thumbs rushing to chose ‘Shock Me’ when I’m deciding what to listen to for my walk to work.

There’s just a nice balance between variety and consistency, there are fast and slow moments, periods of quick fury and periods of slow somber reflection, but it all feels like one cohesive whole. An album where you could swap the track order around and still get the same journey.

This has far more musical DNA in common with Once More Round The Sun than for example, Through Silver In Blood, so the heavy heavy sludge crowd may still find it off putting, but for the rest of us who just like a good time, this is one very enjoyable selection of gnarly Rock singles that’s guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Red Fang fans will find a lot to enjoy here.

Overall; great songs, get it if you aren’t a heaviness-snob.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I really like Red and I've had in my be to buy Yellow and Green. Purple is also on stand by. Now I am more interested thanks to your review!

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

Tarantula Heart Sludge Metal
MELVINS
Buy this album from MMA partners
God Damned You To Hell Traditional Doom Metal
FRIENDS OF HELL
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Absence Melodic Death Metal
THE ABSENCE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Unextinct Technical Death Metal
HIDEOUS DIVINITY
Buy this album from MMA partners
Powerlords Power Metal
ELETTRA STORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Fallen Ashes - Wage War (Official Lyric Video)
FALLEN ASHES
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Unreality (Single) 2024
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
EXISTENTIAL DEAD - Cold Hands
EXISTENTIAL DEAD
Bosh66· 7 days ago
IRON MONKEY - Misanthropizer (Official Music Video)
IRON MONKEY
Bosh66· 10 days ago
??? (Losing ART) - "????" (Official Music Video) [HD]
漂浮者樂團
Bosh66· 10 days 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