Album Of The Week: Baroness Yellow & Green

Even amidst the ridiculously fertile and fun Georgia metal scene, Baroness have always stood out because they've figured out how to be heavy and approachable at the same time. Debut LP Red Album brought sledgehammer riff-churns, but it married them to a sense of reaching-for-infinity melodic lift that few other underground metal bands even attempt, and it did so without sounding disjointed or compromising its own heaviness. It's a happy alphabetical accident that Baroness always showed up next to Band Of Horses in my iTunes; the two bands could bleed right into each other without me even noticing for a few songs. Since Red Album, they've steadily become even friendlier, to the point where it almost doesn't make sense to call them a metal band anymore. At this point, they're metal by association, and because frontman John Baizley looks like a swamp monster, and because nobody knows what the fuck else to call them.