Baroness – Purple
December 18th, 2015
Progressive Sludge Metal / Progressive Rock
Abraxan Hymns
Savannah, Georgia, USA
In 2012, following the horrible bus accident that Baroness encountered near Bath, England, two of the band’s members, long time drummer and founding member Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni, departed the band. John Baizley himself broke multiple bones and required a lot of physical therapy, but was able to play guitar again not long after the accident. Hoo boy, thank god for that, because while I may not have found Yellow and Green to my liking as much as some of Baroness’ other works, Purple was a triumphant return to form, albeit in a different light.
If you’ve heard of Baroness, chances are it’s been because of their song “Shock Me”, easily the band’s most well known and recognizable song at this point, and for good reason. The track is an emotionally gripping, intense, vulnerable piece of music that is simultaneously heartbreaking and victorious in its melody. It’s no shock (heh) that this song skyrocketed to the top of the band’s most played songs and earned them a nomination at the Grammy Awards.
However, as good as “Shock Me” is, it’s far from the only good song on this record. In fact I’d go so far as to say that majority of this record is stocked with banger after banger, all of which have their own vibe and atmosphere that contributes to a well rounded cohesive piece of music that offers a ton of diversity and variation to the listener. The opening track, “Morningstar”, has a lot of the nautical, flittering riffs that often earn the band a comparison to Mastodon, whereas the song “Try to Disappear” seems to combine that style of riffing with a more melancholic tone and spacey passages. Each song has its own thing going on and each stands alone but is an essential pillar in making this album the fantastic full package that it is.
Baizley is pretty much firmly set in his way as a mostly clean vocalist at this point and the hefty bellow of the band’s early albums is basically completely gone, following in the footsteps of Yellow and Green. That said I feel like this record easily has one of if not the most emotionally gripping vocal performances from the band yet. It’s likely no doubt that surviving a brush with death fueled a lot of the lyrics and melodic tendencies on this record as this album has a very obvious bittersweet vibe to it that combines anxiety, sadness and joy together into a vicious cornucopia of power. Every song on here is dripping with feeling and oozing with a certain sense that Baizley and fellow guitarist Peter Adams are just happy to be alive.
The same can be applied to the guitar work from Baizley and Adams as well as bassist Nick Jost, who, as I’ve already mentioned, have crafted some of the most emotive tracks in the band’s catalog with this record. Every song combines despair and desperation with triumph and glee when it comes to the melodies, and while much of this comes through in the vocal delivery, the guitars are quite obviously a big part of it as well. A song like the aforementioned “Morningstar” may be the heaviest cut on the album but still bears a degree of jubilation within the chords, whereas “Fugue” leading into “Chlorine and Wine” are both very contemplative moments that put the band’s fears and anxieties out there on the table for everyone to see.
New drummer Sebastian Thomas adds his own unique flair to each of the songs that perhaps doesn’t quite equate the work of Allen Blickle in terms of complexity but certainly gives this album a distinct feeling in the percussion department in comparison to previous releases. I’d say the drumming is a bit more simplistic, though that’s not to say that Thomas is not as capable of a drummer. Rather, he understands that this album indeed has more of a mainstream bent to it and has adjusted the percussion style accordingly to suit the sonic palette that these songs present. That’s of course not to discount the moments where Thomas does absolutely go off, like in the intro to “Desperation Burns”.
Now while the production on here remains similar in some respects to Yellow and Green, I actually prefer the more extravagant soundscape crafted on here than I did on the preceding record. These songs are all huge and bombastic and a joy to listen to, perhaps partially because there are also fewer of them and they feel much more focused and intentional. The bells and whistles I have complained about on previous records actually make more sense here, at least to me. The production on “Chlorine and Wine”, for example, is magnificent and overblown to hell, and it works magnificently because of how huge and emotionally impactful that song is, to the point that it even moved me to tears as I was in the midst of writing this review.
While I was initially uncertain as I began writing this accounting of Baroness’ fourth full length album, I have come to the determination that this is easily one of their best records if not their absolute best. While I may love Blue Record to death I have to question whether or not that has more to do with nostalgia versus the actual quality of that release. Is Purple better than Blue Record? I don’t know. To be completely honest I think they may stand on equal footing but for different reasons. Blue Record was the pinnacle of the band’s crunchier, heavy, sludgey era. Purple is the pinnacle of their spacey progressive rock era, and I’m all here for it.
Final Verdict: 10/10
Flawless
Favourite Tracks:
“Morningstar”
“Shock Me”
“Try to Disappear”
“Kerosene”
“Fugue”
“Chlorine and Wine”
“The Iron Bell”
“Desperation Burns”
“If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain?)”
~ Akhenaten
Where Strides The Behemoth? 