YELLOW & GREEN

"Yellow & Green" is the 3rd full-length studio album by US sludge rock/metal act Baroness. The album was released through Relapse Records in July 2012. Baroness are quite the adventurous act and over the course of their first two albums "Red Album (2007)" and "Blue Record (2009)", they have gone from being a sophisticated sludge act to incorporating stoner, rock´n´roll and 70s hard rock elements to their sound. Not completely unlike the development that a contemporary act like Mastodon also have been through.

This time around Baroness have focused even more on accessibility (even occasionally touching maintream appeal) than ever before. Most tracks are vers/chorus structured with only few excursions beyond that formula and the choruses are catchy and for the most part leave a lasting impression. The raw shouting vocals, which were already sparse on "Blue Record (2009)" are now completely gone from the band´s music. Instead the vocals are clean with an occasional rough edge, but often layered with distorting effects.

"Yellow & Green" is a double album. The first disc is titled "Yellow" and the second disc is titled "Green". So there are about 75 minutes of music to digest. Personally I find "Yellow" slightly more interesting than "Green". There are simply more tracks on "Yellow" that stand out. Highlights are tracks like "Take My Bones Away" and "Cocainium" but the quality of the tracks are more or less consistent throughout. Few real highs and few real lows.

While I can see the drawing of what Baroness want to achive with "Yellow & Green" I don´t think the mission is fully accomplished. It´s like they lack the last conviction in the delivery and the songwriting could be better and more defined too. The fact that lead vocalist/guitarist John Baizley isn´t in possession of the most interesting voice is a minor issue too. When that is said "Yellow & Green" is still a well produced, well played and for the most part well written album and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.