Album Review: "Yellow & Green" by Baroness

Double album!

The double album might just be the greatest thing in the whole world. Even better than this. Let me know if that's too vague OK?

Baroness came to me in an email I received talking about their latest album. Like their first two it was named after colors, but unlike the first two it was a double record. When trying to decide which of their albums to get, I saw that the double album was the same price as the two singles, so that's what I picked up.

I didn't really know a whole lot about these guys when I placed the order for Yellow & Green, but reading about how they recorded it really interested me. When the guitars were recorded, the amplifiers, in some cases, were not in the same room as the player. On top of that, the acoustic plucking of the electric guitars was also recorded on the track. This was one of the coolest things I have heard about in a long time. This method of recording the guitars made for a wonderfully creepy and esoteric vibe that permeated the whole album.



Both of the discs start off with theme songs and then move on into the rest of the albums. I have not quite deciphered as to whether or not these are supposed to be concept records, or if they just had too many songs to put onto one record. Both discs have nine songs and clock in at very similar lengths.

They claimed to be a band with metal influences more than just a metal band and that this album would showcase that. These songs nimbly go from intangibly creepy to rocking to heavy. This is very much a moody album full of vibes. At no point did I, as the listener, get comfortable with what was being played because the songs lept all over. All in all, I would classify this as a metal record, but honestly it's much more than that. Too many metal bands play with a real lack of feeling and emotion. Metallica has been one of the main culprits of this in their earlier albums. Thankfully these two albums do not suffer from a lack of emotion which makes them far more intense.

Baroness has crafted a very heavy, moody, and emotional album not once, but twice in this release. This is truly a band album. No one part of this group really stands out which makes them greater than the sum of their parts.

I cannot say if Yellow is better than Green or vice versa, but I can say that I love this double record and I feel that any fan of heavier music would too.

Year: 2012
Genre: Metal
Run Time: 75:09 (total)
Playlists: Hail Satan A Cab, Mellowship of the Ring

Tracklisting:

"Yellow"
1. Yellow Theme
2. Take My Bones Away
3. March To The Sea
4. Little Things
5. Twinkler
6. Cocainium
7. Back Where I Belong
8, Sea Lungs
9. Eula

"Green"
1. Green Theme
2. Board Up The House
3. Mtns. (The Crown & Anchor)
4. Foolsong
5. Collapse
6. Psalms Alive
7. Stretchmarker
8. The Line Between
9. If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry