Track by Track Mario style, heeeeere we go!!!!!!!!!
Unable to shake the mold of "uncreative metal act" the release starts out with a stupid instrumental build up track of non-coincidental noise that no one could possibly enjoy. It's like E Honda's moves in Street Fighter, they're stupid and repetitive and no one wants to ever see one again.
oh what a delight you are with your....multiple face palms? seriously what a chick you are
look out, for the top of his vulnerable head!!
first you hit me with your chin, which any boxer will tell you is a brilliant strategy, then of course yeah dude attack me with your ass, thats just fantasticOk right off the bat the second track first actual song of the album is really enjoyable, mostly because on this listen I'm not paying attention to the lyrics like I did the first time, whoops, paid attention. "DID YOU TURRRRRRN THE OTHER WAAAAAY" I know judging an album from a snippet is cheap(like E Honda's moves in Street Fighter) but how bad is that? Don't worry they get worse. Take My Bones Away sounds like a Rob Zombie song name and I mean that can either be a really tremendous thing or a really stupid thing. The song is completely different than Baroness' last release which is the highest praise any Baroness album can receive. Its like referring to any of Dale Earnhardt's races as "that one you didn't fucking die on national tv during".
Now seems like a good time to address the vocals, they sound EXACTLY like the short lived much hyped nu-grunge/metal act called CKY, which of course had the CKY video series as one of their brothers was Bam Margera. Now I guess this is where I should shred the band for this and the aforementioned CKY, but honestly, I've always enjoyed the band's work and I won't even call it a guilty pleasure, I will say they have 10 or so songs I legitimately enjoy and I'll say the bands sound is unique(until now lol) and I'll stand with this opinion, so whatever.
Vocal similarity comparison:
Baroness.
cky
tell me that's not incredibly similar.
MORE TO THE POINT, similar(identical) vocals aside, wow are they enhanced. They are the Coco of vocals.
The guitars sound a lot like Radiohead on various solos that the band has done. More on this later.
My god we're only at the third track. March into the Sea for some shocking reason shares the name with one of the few Pelican songs I'll admit to liking, even more shocking is I specifically enjoy the JK Broderick remix of the song, this entire paragraph belongs in 2004 or moreover the waste bin. Again, song sounds a lot like CKY vocals with Radiohead guitars, and that honestly is not a bad combination. Now lets concentrate on the lyrics. "Heroin where did you take my friend". Jesus that is some remedial stuff, maybe its heartfelt though, I just really feel like its Layne Staley cover act material. "when will you let me go" This is one of those depressing heroin songs that for some reason get instant legitimacy from me having dealt with substance abuse problems and friends of mine dying. However if I ever wrote "heroin where did you take my friend" I'd fully expect to be mocked.
On to what could be the worst track on the entire album, definitely is. Straight out of a Puddle of Mud record "Little Things" is just the worst. It sounds like some mid 2000s bad radio act, it sounds like Lit. It sounds like the band Lit, it sounds like the band Lit with echoed Eve6 vocals. I don't know what the song is about as no one could possibly have any connection with the vocals, but it sounds like he is blaming a girl for being sneaky and for some reason greasy, I'm sure it gets deeper than this but no one will ever find that out, its like a guy reaching into a ball pit and instantly finding a piece of shit, you're not going to go back digging in the ball pit for ANY reason despite what anyone says about further down in the ball pit there is something wonderful. Also calling someone or something "a sneaky little thing" just sounds ridiculous.
The next song is basically a 'A Perfect Circle' song with more echo vocals than a chanting monk cd. It also features about the same dynamics and range as one of those cds as well. It sounds like that stupid Sol Invictus song that no one really likes. Whatever its 2 minutes and honestly is a nice cohesive transition track between song 6 and 3 considering I will be deleting track 4. The 'A Perfect Circle' comparison is really the band I was thinking of when I first started writing this review for the comparison, unfortunately I don't know anything about that band or their sound so just hang on for some comic book references and me calling things "dumb"
Track 6! 2/3rds through! Its called Cocainium, which is either where Marvin Gaye played basketball or the periodic element found in Kate Moss' brain stem. Two up to date references, very proud of myself. This song is really weird.
Track 7 is really out of nowhere, the entire album sounds the same I think with the exception of this song, and wow does it sound a lot like Paranoid Android. Like exactly like it. To the point where if someone told me this song was recorded in the room Paranoid Android was recorded in 20 minutes after Radiohead left and no one touched any of the dials and used the same instruments and referred to the first recording as "the blue print" I wouldn't be surprised. The vocals at this point become numbing, they all have the same sound, all pretty much delivered through the entire album with the same cadence and it even gets to a wierd point where I'm convinced he's used the term "windowsill" in every song. awful 30 second electronic ambience at the end of this song, I guess as a build for the next song, but why not have it at the beginning of the next song, its like the opening credits for Return of the Jedi rolling at the end of Empire. I did that reference solely for Jaci.
So along with the echoed distortion added to the vocals now theres some weird electronic tinny sound being added on. I can not tell you how much the vocals sound like CKY. They sound like someone lamenting through the voice enhancing settings used for Apocalypse during the X-men Animated series that took itself way too seriously for its tween audience. You know, if the X-men were really into Radiohead. Hilarious lyric moment when "theres no difference between poison and the cure" is said, not because its bad songwriting, but because of how I instantly think of the bands Poison and The Cure and what a sad looking fat fuck hobbit Robert Smith is now.
Finally the closing track "Eula. Ok...this is a really good song. Its clearly coming from a legit bout of depression and suicidal thoughts and honestly if the entire album was like this I think I would love it, maybe I just need to try and get into the rest of the album like I can this song, not because I'm a sad pussy but because it just seems like they have a real connection with this one. I mean its funny how I feel about this song compared to the other songs on this album and I grant this one legitimacy....oh wait they just completely stole the guitar sound from the solo in Just by Radiohead. I cant blame a band for having the unfortunate circumstances of having heard Kylesa and Cult of Luna before they knew of Radiohead but come on guys. get a fucking sound. In their defense, Radiohead has more different sounds than just about any band so I will give them a brief reprieve when I say that its hard to say that they've copied the guitar work of that band. That being said Radiohead have sold more records than just about anyone and to act like their sound has eluded you is kind of silly.
I don't want to attack this band for having the idea to create something. I give this band all the credit in the world for doing something better than their last idea to release a 'better' sludge metal lp. So fuck it they put on Icarus wings and took a flight and whether or not it worked out at the very least you can say it sounds nothing like Rebreather. Which at this point in my life is the biggest compliment I can give. But in closing.
New Baroness = Paranoid Android arrangement + CKY vocals + Def Leppard vox effects + Alice in Chains lyrics + Radiohead guitar tones on solos + ANOTHER FUCKING DISC OF THE SAME THING .
