Baroness - Yellow & Green (2012) - Psychedelic rock goes pop in the right way - 83% (30/01/13)

Baroness have been one of the most discussed bands of the year 2012 among metal fans even though this band has not much to do with this genre anymore in my humble opinion. What they play is nothing more or less than psychedelic progressive rock with a few folk, grunge and sludge influences. The trio from Savannah, Georgia stands out for its ability to combine floating and complex song structures with gripping and even haunting hooks some pop bands could be truly jealous of. In the last year, only Dissona and Rush did a better job concerning this combination and each one of the three records is very distinctive and hard to compare.

This double-album includes many catchy songs such as more commercial tracks like “Take My Bones Away”, “March To The Sea” or “Board Up The House”. Even if the metal community might now get angry, I think that the vocals sound a lot like Chad Kroeger from Nickelback and I think this guy is a very decent singer. He receives tons of hatred and people say his singing skills are limited, he looks ugly and he acts ridicolously because of his mainstream fame and a strange romantic relationship to Avril Lavigne. But musically, the earlier post-grunge records from his band have an intriguing and quite similar vibe to what Baroness offers here and there on this new release.

There are also many progressive and psychedelic moments on the two discs that include a few American folk influences here and there. A good example is the chilling and dreamy “Twinkler” or the epic “Eula”. The band also includes several long instrumental passages or even entire instrumental tracks. Many people complain about them and say that they are fillers and by far not as good as on the previous records which I can’t comment since I haven’t heard from this band before this release at all. While some instrumentals certainly lack of focus, there are also a few very vivid songs on here such as “Green Theme” that I might cite as my favourite one as it’s alittle bit darker and heavier than the rest. On the other side the shorter and lighter “If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry” also has its charmes plus a very beautiful title and is a good appeasing choice for an album closer.

In the end, Baroness offer seventy-five minutes of music with many haunting and catchy moments. I would have prefered one single album and maybe only twelve or thirteen tracks with a running time under one hour on a very high level but even the filler material on here includes no true stinkers. I don’t really get why this band is popular among metal fans but as a fan of progressive and psychedelic rock music, I appreciate this record a lot. Those who expect some harder stuff should be warned by now.

In my opinion, the band has a lot of potential and I expect that there might even be greater things to come. After the colours red, blue, yellow and green, maybe the band can get one step closer to the progressive rock olymp by adding some pink as in Pink Floyd, some purple as in Deep Purple or some crimson as in King Crimson to their sound. If there is a band around these days to take the heritage of these big names, Baroness surely is a promising candidate but for now, let’s just wait and see while we enjoy this atmospheric and creative double-album that grows on me with each spin.

Let’s add that a physical purchase of the double-album is highly recommandable thanks to a great cover artwork and many stunning pictures in the booklet that have been made by John Baizley. If you like arts in general, then you shouldn’t miss this out and you will surely be pleased as well.

I'm thrilled to see if the band heads for a more progressive avant garde direction next time, if they choose a more metal orientated record to win back some of their old fans that might have left by now after the release of "Yellow & Green" or if they decide to walk even more commcercial and alternative rock inspired paths. Let's say that this release we have here is a good mixture of all three elements but you either take it or leave it which also explains the mixed review. While this album surely isn't my favourite one of the last year, I would still put in my top 25 without a doubt.