Gold & Grey - Baroness: Review
Baroness
are a Georgia based metal group that dropped two critically acclaimed records in the late 2000's and most recently released the critical smash hit Purple album in 2015. Now off the back of three singles met with varying degrees of praise from fans and critics the band has dropped their fifth studio album and their second titled after a combination of two colors, following their least well received record 2012's Yellow & Green.
Review By Lavender:
I always feel like I'm coming at Baroness from a weird place, I wasn't around to hear the bands first three records when they were released and Purple served as my introduction to the group. So while many fans still consider Red and Blue to be the bands greatest works still to this day I see Purple as the shining star of the groups discography. This made it strange seeing the band following up that record now 4 years later with a style I was very familiar with but a drastically different approach in sound. The album was produced by Johnathan Fridmann who has a strong resume that can stand up to many producers in indie music and has made fantastic records with the likes of MGMT, Spoon, The Flaming Lips, Sleater-Kinney and of course Mercury Rev. But his two most recent works have both had strong production issues and following the already boring songwriting of Interpol's Marauder last year I wasn't too discouraged by his work but on Gold & Grey he has turned some truly great songwriting compelling performances into some blurry messes of songs.
My first hint that there would be production problems on this record came on the singles, but it manifests itself in one way or another on nearly every track here. Borderlines was the lead single to this album and it is a far cry from the fantastic Tame Impala single with which is nearly shares its name. The song is terribly clunky right from the very start and the ugly chugging guitars that try to lead the song on come out as terrible and completely lack any punch. The songs stop and start pacing and overblown production are the nail in the coffin of a track that I just straight up did not enjoy.
Thankfully the next two singles were a large improvement starting with Seasons. The track has some speedy and very technical drumming that became a highlight for me right out of the gate and I wish it was mixed a little bit higher because its purpose in the track seems swayed. The song has a very compelling build and while like much of the record the vocals are by the numbers metal singing I still enjoyed the input and the tracks instrumental breakdown in its second half made for one of the most interesting moments on the record for me. The third single was my favorite despite it suffering the hardest from incredible compressed and lackluster mixing. Throw Me An Anchor is probably my favorite track here in spite of this and it's one of the songs I find myself returning to again and again. The song has some fast paced and epic guitar riff that hits from the moment it starts and the anthemic highs on the chorus make for a fiery and excellent song that I would absolutely kill to hear a better mixed version of or maybe an official live version because everything here is excellent aside from the presentation.
But as far as highlights go and songs I enjoyed from this record there really isn't a whole lot to dive into. The opening cut Front Toward Enemy is one of the best tracks here with arena sized guitars and driving percussion that does a fantastic job of getting you riled up for the album that is to come. Similarly the closing track is a really interesting one with guitar work so heavy yet catchy that it sounds like a booming version of a Spoon song. The vocals also get a significant switch-up here and the delivery is something that could fit snugly in a dream pop tune. The pieces are strange but the result is one of the most compelling and engaging songs here. Finally I'm Already Gone is a track that gets a tad boring but features some cool elements that make for great features in its first half. The angelic keys soar over a much less punchy instrumental and while it could use some more energy the songwriting is very tight.
Something I should address while we're talking about what the album does well is that this thing is full of short one to two minute interlude style tracks and most of them especially in the second half serve as really interesting sonic detours that are consistently gripping and split up some of the mediocrity in these tracks. As an album length listen these interludes do a lot to create a dynamic flow that stays interesting when the tracklist lulls.
One of the biggest problems the band has on Gold & Grey is a lack of ability to keep the slower songs compelling. I'd Do Anything, and Emmett - Radiating Light are dreadfully slow and completely lifeless acoustic style ballads that also somehow suffer from bad production as if it wasn't already bad enough. Cold Blooded Angels is the only ballad here that really works with both improved songwriting and just more frontal performances as well as a large improvement to the production quality it is just overall a solid experience unlike pretty much every other time the band tries to slow it down.
Tourniquet opens up with a acoustic intro mixed so painfully low that deciphering much of its intricacies is impossible and everything has a kind of ugly grain over it. The songwriting is super wandery and leads nowhere and this track just ultimately doesn't have much for me. Finally Broken Halo may as well be called Borderlines 2, the ugly guitar riff that dominates this thing is an immediate and persistent auditory turn off that makes what little else it does well impossible to enjoy.
Something I should address while we're talking about what the album does well is that this thing is full of short one to two minute interlude style tracks and most of them especially in the second half serve as really interesting sonic detours that are consistently gripping and split up some of the mediocrity in these tracks. As an album length listen these interludes do a lot to create a dynamic flow that stays interesting when the tracklist lulls.
One of the biggest problems the band has on Gold & Grey is a lack of ability to keep the slower songs compelling. I'd Do Anything, and Emmett - Radiating Light are dreadfully slow and completely lifeless acoustic style ballads that also somehow suffer from bad production as if it wasn't already bad enough. Cold Blooded Angels is the only ballad here that really works with both improved songwriting and just more frontal performances as well as a large improvement to the production quality it is just overall a solid experience unlike pretty much every other time the band tries to slow it down.
Tourniquet opens up with a acoustic intro mixed so painfully low that deciphering much of its intricacies is impossible and everything has a kind of ugly grain over it. The songwriting is super wandery and leads nowhere and this track just ultimately doesn't have much for me. Finally Broken Halo may as well be called Borderlines 2, the ugly guitar riff that dominates this thing is an immediate and persistent auditory turn off that makes what little else it does well impossible to enjoy.
Gold & Grey is a big misstep for a band I was very excited to see back. The haze I was caught up in after the release of Purple certainly didn't last 4 years and Gold & Grey doesn't provide enough to rekindle that love. This album suffers tremendously from its production and tolerable songs because grainy messes when all of their style and attitude is compressed out. Despite its flaws there is plenty here that is compelling enough to prove why the band earned their status in the first place and hopefully going forward they will recover their spark, with a new producer. 5/10
Best Track: Throw Me An Anchor
For more experimental metal check out my review of Sunn 0))) Life Metal here.
