Yellow & Green is the third color-themed release from Georgian metal gods Baroness. As a nice gesture towards their fans, the record is split up into two discs, each containing nine tracks. The amount of publicity and stellar reviews received upon this masterpiece before it was even unleashed has made it almost impossible to throw on the backburner.
At first, the album may be a bit confusing to any Baroness fan. Regardless of any doubt, the sound of everything eventually pierces through any skepticism. Without question, Baroness has taken their music to a new level. It seems as though metal bands these days are morphing into a new style, reminiscent of a retro, almost Pink Floyd sounding vibe (just as Mastodon did with “Creature Lives” off of their latest record, The Hunter).
On the yellow disc, the song that threw me back was “Cocainium.” This track debunks a lot of reviews given prior to the release, saying that it is similar to the routine Baroness sound. A thumping bass with carefully chosen effects on the guitar and more poppy vocals allow this song to really groove.
The first number off of the second disc, “Green Theme” starts out slow before the hard-hitting drums get underway, signaling the rest of the band to erupt into something truly special. To refute all of the buzz that has been going around about Baroness, this is more than just a new, pop sound. Yellow & Green opens the door for the band to go under a new genre. There’s no explanation for why some groups change their style so viciously like this other than that it’s their music and they are doing what they wish to do with it. In the painting of Baroness’ career, who knows what color will be chosen next?
