Baroness, London The Underworld

Baroness' John Baizley

April 13th 2009

There’s a fine art to head banging, believe it or not. And the man standing in front of me tonight at The Underworld has definitely not got his head around that. His head is lolling lazily back and forth, while his feet remain firmly anchored the ground and his arms are pinned to his side in sheer concentration. The overall effect is that he seems to resemble less a metal fan and more one of those peculiar drinking birds, dipping his entire body forwards, before rocking backwards like a Thunderbirds character in the hands of a drunk puppeteer. It’s almost impossible not to watch his hypnotic bodily rolls.

There’s no such problem with the head banging occurring on stage tonight. Flanked by some impressively old school thrasher bandmates, Baroness’ frontman John Baizley is doing his very best wild-eyed Rasputin impression, gurning and gazing imperiously down on the front rows, holding his guitar aloft before slamming it back to his knees and throwing his whole body forwards. It looks mighty fun.

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that tonight is a masterclass in making heavy music that is exciting, engaging and above all else; fun. Georgia fourpiece Baroness, along with Florida’s Torche, are metal’s fast, clever, bright young things. Their brash, bright cover art belies a band dripping with power, presence and precision in equal proportions. Tonight, it’s all about the moves: feet planted firmly apart, guitar necks splayed across the body or held out wide for maximum shredding potential and the inevitable cascades of blonde and brown hair, back and forward in time to the drumbeat.

They hit the ground running, opening with ‘The Birthing’, a thumping great stop-start guitar riff crashing over a charging rhythm section as Baizley bellows his call to arms over the top. It’s impossible not to grin as he duels, Spinal Tap style, with his blonde lead guitarist, the two of them almost cheek to cheek as fingers run up and down fretboards. It might all be a bit tongue-in-cheek, but we’re getting a little fed up of overly serious music, right?

Elsewhere, the choppy intro to ‘Isak’ belies little of the Sabbath-meets-ZZ Top riff to come, punchy basswork and chord progressions making it near impossible for the onlooker to stand still. Granted the lyrics might not be as big and clever as the music, but the vocals are a powerful instrument on their own; not quite growling enough to be death metal, nor clean enough to detract from the colossal sound of the band. During ‘Wanderlust’, Baizely sounds like he’s screaming from inside a hurricane, as a fusillade of percussion is punctuated by those meandering guitar lines.

But despite the band’s energy and the sheer kick they obviously get out of getting up on a stage and playing at blistering speed, it’s obvious that they don’t quite have enough material to play at this pace all night. ‘Rays On Pinion’ showcases a (slightly) more delicate side to the band, with its elongated ‘post-rock’ intro, but the fact they have to stretch the song out to nearly 15 minutes to fill their set time is telling. The band are definitely not at their best when they are forced to wander into proggier territory as they do for a period of ten minutes prior to the conclusion of their set.

Still, as they close in charismatic, balls-to-the-walls fashion with ‘Aleph’, it’s difficult to not be impressed. At a time when everyone in metal seems to be slowing down, it’s good to hear a band running as fast as they can, uphill.

No related posts.