Woah, a Baroness double album. Is that the sound of music aficionados throughout the land having minor orgasms at the mere thought? Well, firstly if you really are a music aficionado then let’s not pretend you are in the right place here. We’re catering for slightly more finely tuned (or should that be distorted) musical tastes. Double albums by potentially stadium-packing rock gods ain’t usually my thing. Now you’re going to tell me that Baroness aren’t packing out stadiums….
Well, if this doesn’t break them into the big time nothing will. First things first. The vast majority of double albums fall into two different categories. Ones which are two-thirds too long and, secondly, ‘concept’ albums by bands who find themselves in a creative maelstrom where one disc just won’t do. The fierce debate will always centre on which you believe any given release belongs. I’ve not heard many of the latter. But after hearing the last Baroness album Blue I’m prepared to say that to date this band have done very little wrong. I looked forward to hearing this believing that would continue. Now after delving into Yellow & Blue I think I was proved right.
Yes, it’s melancholy in parts – particularly on Yellow – and mellow in others – notably and at length during the mid-section of Green. This is definitely not Red or Blue part two. Baroness are not as heavy as they used to be. I’m not sure I could wholeheartedly recommend this to steadfast heavy metal purists or even avowed stoner rockers. This is a rock album with a heavy, sludgy tint but one that crosses too many boundaries for those who have set themselves limited horizons. It occasionally breaks back to the Baroness we have learnt to know and love – The Line Between, for example. But there is so much more exploration than on Blue – and the vocals have been cleaned up. Yellow & Green is self-reflecting, slower and more textured. There’s even a bit of post-punk hollering and at times I also couldn’t stop thinking about mid-1990s Brit poppers Blur and even the harmonising of The Stone Roses. For me, though, it never felt as if my patience was stretched. There is very little here that does not stand alone, very little I’d be tempted to dismiss as ‘filler’, and at 75 minutes in total for two fairly distinct slabs there is really very little time for it anyway.
This has far more mass appeal than previous releases and it would be easy to forget while listening to this that Baroness aren’t some huge deal beyond the underground. Yellow & Green sounds self-assured and at times very accessible. No doubt this will have them written off as sell-outs but good luck to them. It’s about time these guys were on a bigger stage. I’d happily have walked away with the 40 minutes of Yellow and the fact I get Green to slowly chew on over the next few weeks is enough to tell me what a decent band we have here.
(9/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
Leave a Reply