Baroness "Blue Record"

What a killer record! Hey, Feelin Blue? Well then I have news for you, a good groove can soothe the broken hearts of the throbbing headaches of those that bang their heads on walls and put in a good mood. "Bullhead's Psalm" is surprisingly mellow, but a great way to start off the disc. Not everyone can be angry all the time...who would ever choose that?! It seques nicely into "The Sweetest Curse" that has them screaming to "Save your breath/This may be the last/There is no novelty here on the earth" with this nice slow-stomp groove. Sounds as if the horses are coming, or maybe that's just my "Jake Leg" with this punky intro that then has the group singing Jake leg in this catchy chorus with the pounding of those drums, but does not sound uininviting, and it has this boom boom tse beat. Oh,"The body's a vessel/The hands find a cure/"Flesh is weak!" and my lip needs a meal." Call me a lyre but the group sings a slow,acoustic strummed song that a minstrel may sang in "Steel That Sleeps The Eye," not without it's distortion and piano, so we''ll say it sounds what a current minstrel may sing; old-fashioned but updated. "Swollen and Halo" is this slow mid-tempo metallic rocker that starts to change its teeth around 3:44 and has some great percussion with a nice dual guitar and evening finish. "Ogeeche Hymnal" is another slow instrumental that segues nicely into "A Horse Called Golgotha" and this horse takes it's time but once it is warmed up it will run "O'er Hell and Hide" with it's drum-machinebeats and dance flavor we know Golgotha's equine has to be somewhere quick, or maybe he wants to go fast enough to avoid catching the flames.It has occasional voiceovers, and some distortion, but is mostly instrumental, and is freakin' cool! "War,Wisdom, and Rhyme" starts nice but then gets into this stoner rock, Mastodon-like slow groove midway, and has lively percussion as they scream in unison"We are grave/We are graves/We will die"and this nicequickly paced solo comes in about a half minute before it's over and we hear "we will..." screamed at the finish. Going to the "Blackpowder Orchard" we find that has nice folky acoustic strumming that likes to work well with dual gutar riffage; short, but sweeet! Reading the title has me preparing myself for "The Gnashing" which starts out nice and easy, but then kicks it up after first minute,with quick horse drumbeat and then this offkilter beat which introduces the screams;"All of your fears are well founded and true/All my hands are callous and cruel/All of my arrows that riddle you through/Are bullets that fire me back into you." And now Bullhead feels like taking a break to think in "Bullhead's Lament" which bookends the record nicely with a nice laidback guitar tune, but again with some sfx, the sound of a spaceship floating off; a whirring sound used in the 80s or before then.Let's Just Say These 7 Songs Don't Make Me Feel Blue: The Sweetest Curse, Jake Leg, A Horse Called Golgotha, O'ER HELL OR HIDE, War Wisdom and Rhyme,  Blackpowder Orchard, and The Gnashing.