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Georgia-based psychedelic rock band (calling them a metal act seems very reductive, though there's some seriously headbangable material on this disc) Baroness has made a subtle but unmistakable evolutionary leap on this, their second full-length and a clear companion piece to 2007's Red Album. It's hard to say exactly what new guitarist Pete Adams has brought to the band after replacing drummer Allen Blickle's brother Brian, but the band's established blend of Southern sludge riffs, druggy instrumental journeys, and melodic interstitial interludes, all propelled by a particularly thudding drum sound and held together by John Baizley's hoarse but clean vocals and gorgeous cover art, are even stronger now than before. The transition from the almost Moody Blues-like "Steel That Sleeps the Eye" into the crunching hard rock epic "Swollen and Halo" is just one example of Baroness' seamless melding of moods through technique and compositional acumen.
Tracklist
Side A
1. Steel That Sleeps the Eye
2. Bullhead’s Psalm
3. The Sweetest Curse
4. Swollen and Halo
5. Ogeechee Hymnal
6. Jake Leg
Side B
1. War, Wisdom and Rhyme
2. A Horse Called Golgotha
3. O’er Hell And Hide
4. Blackpowder Orchard
5. The Gnashing
6. Bullhead’s Lament