Baroness – Yellow and Green
Release Date: July 17, 2012
Highlights: If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry
Much like Mastodon, Baroness is one of those bands that everyone kept saying, “Don, you have to check these guys out. You’ll love them.” For some odd reason, I feel that my friends actually don’t really know me that thought I would like this. At first listen, the opening instrumental “Yellow Theme” seemed promising but what followed just sounded like a thick, muddy sounding alternative, grungy college rock and less like the kind of classic hard rock/metal that I truly do love.
Yellow and Green is a double album which means I had two CDs worth of music to comb through to find something that I could connect with. At times, I could feel myself connecting musically with songs like “Cocanium”, Mtsn (The Crown & Anchor), and “Foolsong” but as the rest of the song continued and the vocals came in I found myself cringing and just shaking my head in disapproval. Song after song I just found myself completely unable to connect with Baroness. They do have a knack for writing some pretty cool instrumental pieces. The instrumental “If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry” was the only song I found myself able to listen to without skipping through it.
Baroness is a band that I just don’t get. They remind me more of European alternative college rock bands like The Clientelle which is a kind of music that I almost feel sometimes that I should like. I can hear elements of music that I do like in Baronees but the elements that I do like don’t shine through enough to captivate me and pull me in. Baroness is a band that I wanted to like based on the hype but that I don’t like after listening. I’m sure there is an audience for Baroness that appreciates what they do and get’s what they do but I just don’t see myself being a part of that audience.
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