Singles Roundup: Baroness, Soen, Spanish Love Songs, & John Popper

We have quite the eclectic group of songs today.

Baroness - Beneath The Rose

I was going to sweat off Baroness, but my take on the first single from their upcoming record was met by someone with questions of whether we even heard the same song. For the sake of the experiment, I gave this second single a listen as well. I stand by what I said the first time. There was a very brief window where I was interested in Baroness, but that is a time I can't understand anymore. This song is rather tuneless, but even with the more 'cleaned up' production, the music still sounds awful. The dirty tones and muffled sounds are deeply unpleasant, and if there was something to this song that stood out melodically, I still wouldn't want to sit through these sounds in order to hear it. At least they add to the trend of the best album art usually being on music I hate.

Soen - Memorial

There isn't too much to say about Soen at this point. They have been as good as any metal band since "Lykaia" came out, and now the second song from their upcoming album shows no signs of slowing down. They take their trademark sound, and with each album they keep trimming away a little bit more fat, leaving more room for what's left to sound even bigger. This is crushing, dynamic, and strongly melodic as well. It's a hard combination to pull off, but even if many will complain Soen is going too mainstream, I think they are doing this sound far better than any of the traditional big names who rule radio rock. I'll take this over that generic stuff anytime.

Spanish Love Songs - Pendulum

I'm rather confused by everything this band is doing. "Brace Faces Everyone" was so good, and garnered so much praise, it seems like such a bad idea to keep putting out songs that sound like a completely different band. First it was 80s synths, and now it's quiet quasi-folk. I don't think the vocal tone works at all with this softer music, and without the power and volume pushing the songs forward, the misery is hard to escape. If ever there was a one-album-wonder for me, it might just be this band. I'm rather worried.

John Popper & Jono Manson - Cover My Hands

It's been a long time since John Popper put anything out beyond the scope of Blues Traveler, and since that band is now more interested in doing covers, maybe this shouldn't have been so much of a surprise. I had no idea something like this was coming, and I'm not sure this song tells me enough to have an opinion one way or another. It's always nice to hear something new, but it's also too close to a basic blues for my liking. Despite the band's name, it was always Popper's non-blues influences that appealed the most to me. If this song is an indication of what the record is supposed to be, I might have to keep myself from getting my hopes up.