Baroness Blue Record Album Review

Modern Day Epic
Baroness creates an atmospheric rock album with hints of Queen, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Baroness
Blue Record
**** out of *****



Chances are anyone outside of the underground music scene has never even heard of Baroness.

The band, which started up in 2003, often gets lumped into the “sludge metal” category, where bands are quickly born and forgotten. On the 2007 offering Red Album there were some decent songs, but overall the music lacked the diversity to hold listeners attention. However, on Blue Record Baroness sheds most of its metal shell and enters the realm of psychedelic progressive rock.

While there are still some heavy tunes (“The Sweetest Curse” and “War, Wisdom and Rhyme”), there are also plenty of sprawling musical interludes and acoustic tracks such as the Pink Floyd-esque “Steel That Sleeps the Eye.”

“Jake Leg” and “A Horse Called Golgotha” condense the formula of latter-day Led Zeppelin into three to five minute rock songs that provide some epic background music, suitable for throwing on when doing work or just hanging out.

The bright dual guitar harmonies on instrumental songs like “Bullhead’s Psalm,” “Ogeechee Hymn,” and “Blackpowder Orchard” sound more like something that could be found on Queen’s back catalog than say, the doom of Black Sabbath.

Baroness knows the important art of creating a cohesive album. On Blue Record each song flows together to make the listening experience feel more like a complete package rather than on more recent albums that tend to sound like they contain songs recorded one at a time for iTunes.

Even the cover art, which features two women, some fish, and tons of the color blue (big surprise), has a sense of a classic painting, that works to tie everything together.

That being said, this album is certainly “a grower,” so don’t expect to be hooked on the first listen. But for those listeners willing to spend time with Blue Record, they will find the band has crafted an album that is more than just another “sludge-metal record”. It is a modern day rock opus that calls to mind the musical greats of old.

Randy’s Picks: “The Sweetest Curse,” “Jake Leg,” “A Horse Called Golgatha.”

3 Inches of Blood: "Here Waits Thy Doom" Album Review

A bloody nod to the old school

3 Inches of Blood: Here Waits Thy Doom
**** out of *****



Heavy metal has always had its stereotypes — ranging from the devil-worshipping, partying reputation to the loner kids that hang out in their parents’ basements listening to music and playing roles.

I would imagine that 3 Inches of Blood frontman Cam Pipes fit into the latter stereotype, staying up until 5 a.m. decked out in full-on battle gear playing Dungeons & Dragons while listening to old Mercyful Fate records.

Despite what his high-school adviser might have said, sometimes hanging out for endless hours in a basement can pay off. The band’s fourth studio album, Here Waits Thy Doom, is a solid offering that at its best sounds like the battle cry for a group of ravage warriors — or at least all those confused adolescents out there.

Click here to read the rest of the review on The Daily Iowan's Web site.

Municipal Waste "Massive Aggressive" Review

Not just another thrash band

Municipal Waste: Massive Aggressive
**** out of *****

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that crossover act Municipal Waste knows how to throw a party. The righteous dudes in the band even wrote a concept album about slamming brews and skipping class with 2007’s The Art of Partying.

However, just like a college student about to enter her or his senior year, there comes a point of maturation. That is the case with the Waste’s newest album Massive Aggressive, which sees the band writing on topics outside of the realm of drunkenness and becoming all the better for it — the album is thrash-metal perfection.

Click here for the rest of the review (second on the page).

Dream Theater: "Black Clouds and Silver Linings" Album Review

Today Dream Theater's new album "Black Clouds and Silver Lining" arrived in stores. Check out a brief excerpt from my review below and click the link to see the review in its entirety.

"After nine years and a few recent mediocre albums, it may seem as if progressive metal band Dream Theater is losing some steam. Leave it to the masters of musicianship to prove the naysayers wrong by releasing Black Clouds and Silver Linings — an album that contains some of the band’s best material in more than a decade."

For more check out The Daily Iowan's Web site (it's the second review on the page).

P.S. Yes I know that Jordan Rudess was misspelled as Jordan Rudders. It must have happened in the edit. Not my doing.