New Baroness - "Swollen And Halo"
In the November issue of Decibel, there's a feature with Baroness where drummer Allen Blickle says:
I have no idea how the hell we ended up playing this kind of music. When we first got together, all [bassist] Summer [Welch] listened to was King Diamond, [guitarist/vocalist] John [Baizley] was obsessed with old Flood records, and I was into weird shit like the Album Leaf.
The Savannah quartet's wanderlusting full-length debut Red Album landed in my top five of 2007. From the dreamily pastoral ambient twin soloing bookmark instrumentals to the expansive sludge that falls between them, the forthcoming Blue Album finds the band more comfortably adept at meshing their disparate tastes, somehow creating an even stronger, more nuanced collection of majestic psychedelic metal. It's impressive hearing a band already pushing themselves finding even more space for growth: The absolute beauty of some of these instrumental passages ought to be enough to bring tears to your eyes, when you're not throwing out neck muscles listening to the crusty, mathematically insane anthems. Take a little peek via "Swollen And Halo."
Baroness - "Swollen And Halo" (MP3)
Baizley handled the gorgeously apropos album art again:
Blue Record is out 10/13 via Relapse. You can stream the entire things at MySpace. Looks or a Joshua Green-directed video for "A Horse Called Golgotha" this month. Along with Converge's Axe To Fall, this is no doubt one of the best albums of the year. Catch them live:
11/18 - Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel #
11/19 - Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church #
11/20 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom #
11/21 - Cambridge, MA @ Middle East #
11/22 - Buffalo, NY @ The Traif #
11/24 - Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick #
11/25 - Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club #
11/27 - Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock #
11/28 - Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room #
11/29 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater %
11/30 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Club Vegas %
12/02 - San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill &
12/03 - Hollywood, CA @ Troubadour &
12/04 - San Diego, CA @ The Casbah &
12/05 - Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse &
12/07 - Austin, TX @ Emo's !
12/08 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live !
12/09 - New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks !
12/10 - Orlando, FL @ The Social ^^
12/11 - Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade $
# w/ Earthless, US Christmas
% w/ Earthless, GAZA
& w/ Earthless, Iron Age
! w/ Iron Age, Dark Castle
^^ w/ Torche
$ w/ Torche, Pig Destroyer, Iron Age
[Band photo by GL Johnson]
UPDATE: Stream the LP:
Posted at 11:53 AM by brandon in Album Art, MP3, Tour Dates
Tags: Baroness
I can't remember the last time an album sounded so precisely the way the cover art looked. Amazing album.
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Uh fuck yes.
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This album is gorgeous. The Red Album was also in my top 5 of 07 and I thought it was absolutely genius, but sweet zombie jesus... This new album is a beautiful thing.
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The only thing this Baroness album is missing is a drawn out dual lead guitar jam. They come close, but nothing will ever top the end of "the Birthing." Between this album and Slough Feg's Ape Uprising, you might as well just throw away your guitar or risk feeling stunningly inadequate as a songwriter.
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Love, Love looove this album. Well done!
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Album of the year, sharing the honors with Mastodon!
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such a well done album! i don't usually listen to much metal-leaning music but this is just so good!! sooo good. i really like it
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