Abraxan Hymns

After the masterful stoner metal odyssey of the Purple album, Baroness followed up with the first dual — but not dual — album Gold & Grey, a masterful follow-up that combines the genius of both doom/stoner metal and progressive metal to create an effective listening experience, filled with ascensionism. But to understand the music behind Gold & Grey, we must break down the album track by track and really see if the individuality of these singles creates an effective zenith.

Front Toward Enemy: 5

The opening track absolutely slaps with fuzz-filled guitar work. I think a lot of people tend to understate the importance and superiority of their rhythm work. Also, the drum work is so raw. I love the live approach to drums — they feel flawed, but really genuine. Vocally, the song feels full, and the lyricism really takes that psychedelia and applies it to a smooth mysticism that feels really full and has a unique melody.

I’m Already Gone: 4

So this feels like their closest piece to a funeral doom song, a subset of the subgenre that adopts a blackened style with symphonica and mysticism around thanatology. Just between the crunchy guitars and the mixing of the drums and bass, they are really the leaders for this track. The best way to encapsulate the sound and feel of “I’m Already Gone” is through Lemmy’s bass tones throughout Motörhead’s career.

Seasons: 5

This is the first look into the prog side of Baroness, with some of the faster aspects from the previous two tracks. A big piece of this song is the bridges out of the chorus. There are these nice fills from the lead guitars, which really show their skillfulness. Their tones on the lead parts remind me of a clearer mix of what Hinds’ and Kelliher’s work sounds like from Mastodon. I also like the constant ambience of the choruses — it really adds variety from the opening tracks.

Tourniquet: 3

So we first get the kind of lower-energy song of the album — a more ballad-esque or even stripped approach to Baroness’ songwriting. At first, I thought of this song as proficient — a kind of break that is somewhat needed in doom and stoner metal albums. However, as I got deeper into the album, I found that it didn’t break certain barriers or achieve other melodies or what makes my brain and ears go “Oh BOY” in comparison to later tracks. Due to that, as I go back to this song more, it’s a very middle-of-the-road song. It substantializes that sound for the album but doesn’t grow upon it.

Throw Me an Anchor: 5

Wow, what a rebound. Most albums delve into a pretty lazily made middle half of their records, but Baroness picks up the ball previously dropped and slam dunks it into the atmosphere. “Throw Me” is a perfect combination of the psychedelia-laden instrumentation and the full-sounding arena rock, turned into an adrenaline-filled track. Like I said, they combine the fullness of vocals and the low ends of the guitars into a dissonant but almost beautiful piece.

I’d Do Anything: 5

For the first time, I realized the genius of Baroness’ knowledge of melody. The opening piano melody is haunting but beautiful, and kind of establishes a foundation for both the instruments and the thematics throughout the song. I really liked its stripped nature. It handles a sense of satisfaction even though the ambience that builds throughout the track is never really — for a lack of a better word — there. In a way, it’s because of that of which the mysticism of this song is sevenfold.

Emmett – Radiating Light: 5

Baroness really heightens the atmosphere within this song by using the piano with fuller notes. While it is not as prominent in the mix, you can still really feel it. Also, the acoustic guitar is surprisingly vanilla. A lot of their music is very fuzz- or bass-heavy instrumentation, so it was a nice breath of fresh air with the cleaner tonality of the guitar.

Cold-Blooded Angels: 5

“Cold” fleshes out that well-established sound for the bottom half of the record with a couple more moving pieces. As a side note, I love when bands do this with their albums — by establishing a sound or style and then adding or stripping elements. It varies it up enough but doesn’t differentiate a whole lot. The choruses remind me a lot of Mastodon’s cover of Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” adding in bluesy cleans with a tone of different psychedelic-based synths, creating a juxtaposition for the listener.

Broken Halo: 4

As we start stepping away from the monotone part of the album, “Broken Halo” kind of revives that punk-esque style but somewhat substantiates the moldies presented throughout the song. I really dug the way they used the pedals and the effects toward the end of this track, even though I kind of wish they would have found some way to add it during the song.

Borderlines: 3

“Borderlines” really establishes the more simplistic side of Baroness. Even though it isn’t the best-presented single out of the three, the instrumentation is really a character essay upon the ontology of their sound and how they approach songwriting.

Pale Sun: 4

The last track serves as an atmospheric and kind of tribal take on their doom metal. It really brings back the ambience of the bottom half of the tracklist. Overall, it was a really strong outro and kind of send-off for the rest of the record.

Overall, their sound has always been unique to me, with the almost indie feel added with the prog and doom sound — really differentiating themselves from the rest of the subgenre. This is kind of a fragment of that case.