Tag Archives: Baroness

Yellow and Green: A Stale and Diluted Mixture

Posted by on August 3, 2012 No comments

I’m all for an artist being open to progression. I stand firm to the notion that anyone has the right to pursue their own artistic experimentation, no matter what their followers may say about it. Playing it safe means eventually becoming stagnant and predictable, it’s inevitable. I suppose there are a few who actually enjoy when a band makes the same album over and over, and I can’t really discredit their opinion. But for me, I need to feel like the creator is taking me somewhere. I like to think that I’m following right along, being taken deeper and deeper into the story as each chapter (or album), digs deeper into the creative mind of the composer. In a way, the challenge of opening my mind up to unconventional twists in the story mirrors the challenge the artist faces when exploring his/her own potential.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that I enjoy every single twist that I encounter. It also doesn’t mean that I encourage an artist to travel way outside their restrictions without the proper abilities to back them up. This explanation is really just an artsy-fartsy way to say that the new Baroness album Yellow and Green falls flat in its heavy ambitions. Read more »

Brutality, Beer and Bicycle Rides: A Review of Meshuggah, Baroness and Decapitated in NYC

Posted by on May 29, 2012 No comments

The night started early, perhaps a bit too early. My plans for taking an hour nap or so before heading to my buddy Danny’s place had failed. We were both a bit beat, trying to suck down a couple of beers to wake ourselves up. The only thing that kept us going was the prospect of seeing Meshuggah and Baroness completely tear up the Terminal 5 stage in NYC. Well actually, Danny admitted to not being much of a fan of Meshuggah’s music, but has enjoyed seeing them live in the past. I (as I’m sure most of you know) am a Meshuggah freak however, and the fact that Baroness was opening up for them pretty much sealed the ticket sale for me. Danny is also a Baroness freak, so there wasn’t any argument from him about going. Tired or not, we knew we were going to have a blast.

The excited concertgoers...

We took a train into the city around 5:30 and we arrived at Grand Central around 6:20, which is just amazing timing. Trying to get anywhere in Manhattan during rush hour is almost futile. Being that Terminal 5 is located right by the West Side Highway, we were faced with a conundrum. The subway couldn’t even take us close to the Terminal 5 location, and getting to the nearest stop would have required a few transfers. Being that the subway was probably like the battle for Helm’s Deep at this time, we didn’t feel like it would be worth it. Hitching a cab is also almost impossible, unless you’re willing to get into some serious fisticuffs with commuters. If pummeling old ladies and business executives over taxi rides is your thing, then I guess you would have been fine. Read more »

My Lifelong Struggle with Metal Trivia

Posted by on February 20, 2012 5 comments

 

At work, we talk a lot about how important it is for students to have background knowledge of influential people and important historical events – in other words, “No, sweetie, Michelle Obama’s mother couldn’t possibly have been a slave BECAUSE THE CIVIL WAR ENDED IN 1865!”  I’m finding that background knowledge is also helpful in the realm of metal.

I’ve never been a music trivia person; I listened to the self-titled Sublime album on repeat from eighth grade ‘til college, but I couldn’t tell you half the song titles, or the even names of any band members besides Bradley.  And metal?  Forget it.  Bruce Dickinson’s a singer, right? Megadeth only has one “a” in it?  This lack of background knowledge gets me into some goofy situations editing a blog that is supposed to be about metal!

Valient Himself

Valient Himself -- Photo by Matthew Eisman

The latest situation began over a year ago, when I interviewed Andrea Black of Howl.  (BTW, she’s not in the band any more – plus one trivia point for me!)  At the time, they were on tour with Junius and Valient Thorr.

The interview went fine and I looked up those other bands on Youtube.  Valient Thorr seemed pretty cool – hard rock n roll, a hairy shirtless singer in bright red pants…

Seven or eight months after that, I saw that Jucifer was coming to the Heirloom Theater.  “Awesome!” I thought to myself.  “That band that was on tour with Howl!”  …Who I had mixed up with Junius, who by this time I thought was Valient Thorr. Read more »