What is regarded as the follow up to 2007’s Red Album (named Metal Album of the Year, by Revolver magazine), Baroness’s Blue Record has clawed its way to the top of Decibel’s 4o Most Extreme Albums of 2009. It’s pretty good. Baroness has a familiar sound that made it easy for me to connect to them. I had not heard their full length debut, so Blue Record was for me to be their introduction. The most present (and persistent) influence on the album, that I can detect at least, is Mastodon. Their brutal harmonies and southern riffs, down to the tone of the guitar on tracks like “Jake’s Leg”, “Swollen and Halo” or “War, Wisdom and Rhyme” reminded me of Crack the Skye, which had been released in March, 7 months earlier. Now I’m not here to argue over who paved what. As far as I’m concerned, this is just what metal from Georgia sounds like. I’m also not here to pretend that I know enough about metal to say that Blue Record is the best or most extreme of anything (I do know that I happen to like Crack the Skye a wee bit more, but that’s due to a deeper loyalty to Mastodon). I am here though, to tell you how good Blue Record is, and it is pretty damn good. It’s not just good for a metal album, it good for an album. So good that I give it four thumbs up:
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