TLOBF Loves… Baroness

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Baroness are the most exciting, individually expressive and original thing to have hit my lugholes in a long, long time. Their southern-laced progressive post-hardcore soundscapes are utterly beguiling with confounding shifts in sound pattern, rhythm and tangibility which, when first heard, keep you guessing at every turn.

The band started life in Lexington, Virginia in 2003 out of the ashes of punk/metal outfit Johnny Welfare & The Paychecks before upping sticks to Savannah, Georgia. It surely isn’t coincidence that those metal maestros, Mastodon, also dabblers in strange time signatures and melodic mood pieces, hail from the same area. Following two well-received EP’s, the modestly-titled First and Second, last year they signed to Relapse Records and released The Red Album. It was, to be quite frank, so impressive that Revolver magazine named it their album of the year.

Featuring the in-demand artwork of, lead-singer and guitarist, John Baizley (he’s also done covers for a number of bands, such as Darkest Hour, The Red Chord and Kylesa) the album oozes with a deep, rich intensity of chiming riffs, chugging chords and vital, throat-melting vocals. It’s complex tapestry of sounds range from rustling grasses, through glockenspiel notes to what can only described as whale-speak giving it an earthy, uplifting quality breaking from the doom-mongering which their EP’s were entombed in.

Drawing from the same seam that Isis, Pelican and Russian Circles have been successfully mining, Baroness are more accessible than all of the above drawing from a hugely diverse range of genres. Big, dirty stoner rock provides much of the base material but there is a large helping of delicately melodic prog-rock, and even lilting blues, to lift it out of that Southern sludge. Like a roaring fire everything is directed through the flaming, cleverly-layered guitar interplay of Brian Bickle and Baizley, with the incredible ever-changing drum patterns of Allen Bickle forming the collapsing embers. Naturally the spit and fury of the vocals come into play only when the rest of the fanning instruments dictate that they should.

You won’t have heard much of Baroness since they refrain from self-promotion, forgoing the publicity. Instead, they burden themselves with a frightening touring schedule and it’s no surprise to find them on the brink of a European tour. Catch them now before they unveil their masterplan for world domination which will surely follow.

mp3:> Baroness: “Rays On Pinion”

Links
Baroness [myspace]