Much like their previous full-length, Red Album, Baroness' follow-up, Blue Record has been hyped quite a bit by the metal community. Red Album saw Baroness go in a very interesting direction as they shifted away from the straight-up heaviness of their EPs to a more drawn out and atmospheric sound, while still holding onto their sludge roots. Regardless, Red Album was met with overwhelmingly positive reviews and almost everyone was anxious to see where they would go on Blue Record.
Baroness were faced with the challenge of finding a new guitarist, hiring Valkyrie's Peter Adams for the job. His contributions on the album are somewhat noticeable, but the band's overall sound has been adjusted quite a bit so his presence alone isn't the only difference found on Blue Record. This record sounds more like a progressive metal musical rather than a sludge metal album with post-rock tendencies like Red Album. Baroness continue to craft metal epics surrounded by beautiful interludes, but this time around they do it with a bit more flashy musicianship. They do this by exercising a lot more influence from early progressive bands like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and Yes. While this might be an immediate turn off to some people, Baroness actually do make it work quite well.
Take the opening track, "Bullhead's Psalm," for example. It's dark, ambient sounds flow right into "The Sweetest Curse" which sounds more similar to Red Album than anything else on this record. The interludes found on Blue Record are some of the most experimental material that Baroness have ever done so far in their careers. This is very noticeable on tracks like the aforementioned "Bullhead's Psalm," the hymn-like "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" and "Blackpowder Orchard," which carries a folk-vibe accented with a dueling guitar melody. The album's closer "Bullhead's Lament" closes the album in similar fashion to how it started with the same dark and eerie melodies delivered by John Dyer Baizley and Peter Adams, only there's some added distortion to add a bit more punch to the closer.
The really interesting thing is how well these interlude tracks tie the album together. "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" acts as a prelude to "Swollen and Halo" and it almost sounds like an acoustic ballad directly evolving into a progressive metal track with the way the two songs are structured. The feedback in "Ogeechee Hymnal" goes right into "A Horse Called Golgotha." The latter is one of the wildest tracks on this album as Baroness experiments with their psychedelic influences, especially in the guitars and drumming. They also dabble a bit with psychedelic music on "O'er Hell and Hide" where they use a similar galloping drumbeat and guitar effects to create a weary atmosphere with the music. "War, Wisdom and Rhyme" is arguably the heaviest song on the album, as it almost dates back to the sound they had on their First and Second EPs, only Baizley's vocals are much cleaner on this track than they were back then. This is the case for most of the album.
Baroness have definitely stepped even further outside the box on Blue Record. Songs like "A Horse Called Golgotha," "Blackpowder Orchard," and "O'er Hell and Hide" are almost nothing like they've ever done before, but you can still tell it's them. The only thing I'm not sure is if this is a better album than Red Album. Yes, it's much more experimental, creative, and outgoing - but is it superior? I'm inclined to say no, but that's mostly because Red Album is on such a high pedestal for me. However, I will say that Baroness have again created something great and unique with Blue Record and it's one of the strongest releases to come out of this year.
