Like the colours on the visual spectrum we experience life through it’s trials and tribulations. Beginning as red headstrong individuals eventually the cocksure attitude moves into more calmer territories. No doubt still confident but quietly so, we enter the Blue spectrum of life. Comfortably gliding through life we see the metaphorical Yellow’s and Green’s of complacency and comfort until being violently shaken with the realisation that life is not as safe as we may think. We the individual are far from invincible.
[tracklist]
1. Morningstar
2. Shock Me
3. Try To Disappear
4. Kerosene
5. Fugue
6. Chlorine & Wine
7. The Iron Bell
8. Desperation Burns
9. If I Have To Wake Up (Would You Stop The Rain)
10. Crossroads of Infinity
[/tracklist]
[details]
[length]42:00[/length]
[record_label]Abraxan Hymns[/record_label]
[release_date]December 18th[/release_date]
[/details]
For those who are unaware Baroness were involved in a terrible bus crash in the UK on their tour supporting their new double album three years ago. Aside from broken bones and scars the crash left a deeper mark emotionally. Taking time to recover the band were wounded. Now regrouping we enter the new colour spectrum for the band. Gone are the sleepy sections of our primary colours and instead comes the age of the secondary tincture. The deft meld of the different eras of Baroness come together to create a fantastic composition on Purple. From the album’s no nonsense opener bringing the riff, “Morningstar” lacquered with Baizley’s soon to be classic howl the track is a defiant cry that this is not the end of the band but merely a new beginning.
Navigating the soundscapes with ease the band flit from the hues of psychedelia to the all out Rock. “Kerosene” opens with a fantastic and memorable twang keeping up the pace doused with electronica before the explosive, no pun intended, chorus. Nevertheless the album ebb’s and flows brilliantly, simple musical interludes of “Fugue” acts as a torch in our troubled corridor narrating the band’s nursing back to health. Whilst familiarity appears in the form of “Try To Disappear” with bands classic knock out Beard Metal formula being more prevalent than ever the band remain first and foremost a Metal band. “Chlorine and Wine” however hints at a more progressive angle previously foreshadowed by the band in their infancy. Gloriously evolving throughout the track from modest psychedelia to become one of the finer moments of the album.
Bringing their appeal no doubt to many more the band write fantastically accessible songs “The Iron Bell” serving as a perfect example. After the catchy chorus we’re thrust back into band’s now iconic unison harmony sections before the song dissolves into swirling lyrics and static. Finishing off brilliantly with the high noon sound of “If I Wake Up – Would You Stop The Rain” offering a dream like sequence wherein the track much like the band lies in emotional purgatory. Not quite the happiest of lyrical content, nevertheless the masterfully written paroles give us the fans a fly on the wall insight into the bruised world of Baroness.
Often something as emotionally jarring as as trauma can serve as a band’s best muse. Harnessing this energy the band have welcomed pain, sadness and in doing so have created a record that is wears its emotional heart on its sleeve all the while being defiant in its ideas whilst retaining the sense of the inquisitive that the band have always dipped their toes in.
[verdict]Yes[/verdict]
[why]A complex melding of their primary colours and secondary colours creates Purple. Breaking the fourth emotional wall the listener is invited into the band’s world where trauma has influenced the band to unleash their most potent concoction yet.[/why]
