Album Review: Baroness - Stone

With this new album, Baroness has broken tradition, and I have (sort of) broken my word. For the band, they have finally abandoned their color theme, with this being their first album to have a traditional title. For me, I pretty much swore I was done with the band after being truly angry at how unlistenable the production made their last two albums. But I've heard there were new choices made this time around, so being the glutton for punishment I am, a bit of investigation might be worth the effort. And so here we are, with me wading into troubled waters once again.

We had might as well start with the biggest point of contention I have with Baroness; their insistence on making distorted records that are an utter failure of basic production. I thought I loved "Purple" when it came out, only to find I got a migraine when I tried to go back and listen to it. "Gold & Grey" was just as distorted, and I was smart enough to avoid ever listening to it again. You can call it an artistic choice if you want to, but putting out a record that sounds like absolute crap is an insult to your audience. There's no way of sugar-coating that. I felt like Baroness was giving me the finger, and laughing at me for even trying to listen to their songs.

This record is a bit better. It doesn't clip and distort as painfully as its predecessors, but the band still gravitates toward guitar tones that sound filthy to the point of being uncomfortable. It sounds like there's something wrong with the amps, as they aren't usually supposed to sound like that. It's made even worse by the fact the band spends so much time playing with soft tones and ambient beauty, which only makes the crust stand out even more when it gets broken over our heads. We all hear things differently, I guess, and Baroness is a prime example of that.

As for the music itself, I'm not entirely sure what to make of this record. There are some beautiful moments and guitar melodies, but I don't hear a lot of connective tissue holding them together as songs. Every time the band tries to get heavy, it feels like the life gets sucked out of the songs. Despite their reputation, and their image, Baroness is a lot better as a soft band than a heavy one. Just look at "Beneath The Rose". The verses with the chugging guitars and the alternating spoken/barked vocals are rather tedious and boring, and then there's a swelling chorus with a booming vocal and acoustic guitar strumming that feels like an entirely different world. That's the one I want to spend my time in, because that's the one where the songs are big and memorable.

I certainly don't want to listen to "Choir", which spends four minutes meditating on a spoken/shouted delivery in between bare-bones music, barely sounding like a song at all. I used the word 'meditating' there, partly because it gives me the same numbing feeling as listening to someone chanting "Om" again and again. I don't understand the point of the song, or what idea in there the band thought was so good it needed to be put on the record. And considering that it's followed up by a one-minute transition piece, the middle of the record is a giant lull that feels like a roller-coaster designed in reverse. It just doesn't work.

My biggest issue with this record is that it doesn't feel fully developed. With two interlude pieces, the aforementioned "Choir", and another short and pointless track in "Anodyne", there aren't that many fleshed-out songs that deliver on the good things Baroness can do. And don't get me wrong; Baroness can do good things. There's a reason I still hold out hope they'll one day re-mix "Purple".

This record sure ain't "Purple".