Purple (Baroness album)
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| Baroness studio album | ||||
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Publication |
December 18, 2015 |
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| Label (s) | Abraxan Hymns | |||
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Title (number) |
10 |
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running time |
42 min 37 s |
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Dave Fridmann & Baroness |
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Studio (s) |
Tarbox Road Studios, Cassagada |
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Purple is the fourth studio album by American progressive metal band Baroness . It was released on December 18, 2015 via Abraxan Hymns. The song Shock Me was nominated for a Grammy in the category Best Metal Performance .
Emergence
During the Yellow & Green tour , the tour bus driver near the English city of Bath lost control of the vehicle, which fell from a nine-meter high bridge. While singer John Baizley broke an arm and a leg, drummer Allen Blickle and bassist Matt Maggioni suffered fractures in their spine . Blickle and Maggioni later left the band and were replaced by Nick Jost and Sebastian Thomson.
When the band began to write songs for the new album, singer John Baizley in particular noticed that the accident had left psychological marks. He described his first ideas as slow, gentle music, which his bandmates didn't like. It was only later that the musicians found their route for the album, according to which the music should sound less experimental, but more direct, energetic and harder. In total, the band wrote the songs for the new album for a year, with the new band members heavily involved in the songwriting.
“By working with them, we were also able to deal with our own problems more freely and to overcome what we experienced, to conquer it. At the same time, they also have profound musical knowledge, for example keyboards and synthesizers . "
The album was recorded in the Tarbox Road Studios in Cassagada , New York . Was produced Purple Dave Fridman and the band. During the recording, the musicians published various making-of videos on the YouTube platform . The album was released on the band 's own label Abraxan Hymns. Previously, Baroness were under contract with Relapse Records . With the previous album Yellow & Green , the contract expired there and the musicians wanted to be independent. The album cover was again designed by John Baizley.
background
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As with the previous albums, Purple was named after a color , in this case purple . In advance, the musicians discussed abandoning the color theme. Baizley did not want to give reasons for choosing a color. Interpretations of this range from the color of a bruise to the US military order Purple Heart , which is awarded to wounded soldiers.
The song Shock Me , according to John Baizley, is about the fact that many people always want to be excited and shocked. According to his own statement, Baizley was last shocked after the accident with the tour bus. Try to Disappear describes the dichotomy of people, that on the one hand they are looking for contact with other people, but at the same time they want to have time for themselves. The song Kerosene refers directly to the bus accident the band suffered. In an interview, Baizley stated that he could still remember the smell of leaking diesel fuel . Instead of diesel, the word kerosene is used in the text because, according to Baizley, it sounds better than diesel.
With the song Chlorine & Wine , Baizley processes his time in the hospital bed after the accident. At the beginning of The Iron Bell you can hear the sound of a windshield wiper . The musicians recorded the sound on the tour bus when they got caught in a snow storm in the Allegheny Mountains . In Desperation Burns it comes to that singer John Baizley constantly in a state of since the bus crash despair lives.
“Sometimes it's easier to deal with a shitty situation if you just accept it as such rather than ignore the problem. In my experience, it is best when the ground is pulled from under your feet that you recognize your duties and challenge yourself to fulfill them. "
If I Have to Wake Up (Would You Stop the Rain?) Refers to the first half hour after the bus accident from the perspective of John Baizley. He was recovered from the wreckage and laid out on the road when it was pouring rain . Two uninjured passengers held umbrellas over Baizley to keep him from drowning . The final Crossroads of Infinity is a short skit in which Baizley's six-year-old daughter can be heard. She speaks three sentences from a comic from the series Die Fantastischen Vier from 1966.
reception
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Chart positions Explanation of the data |
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Reviews
The German magazine Visions chose Purple as album of the month. For Dennis Drögemüller, the serious bus accident was “an artistic stroke of luck” for “a band that today sounds bigger and livelier than ever”. Purple is the integration album of Baroness, as the band has "never found the balance between the sludgy riff power of the red album, the progressive melodies of the blue and the accessibility of the yellow-green", for which he awarded ten out of twelve points . In the German Metal Hammer was purple chosen as album of the month. According to Lothar Gerber, Baroness sound “like a completely renewed quartet ” on Purple . The two new band members "gave the former sludgers and now rockers noticeably new impulses". Gerber awarded six out of seven points for a “successful resurrection from the ruins”, which “was not necessarily to be expected”. For Brandon Stosuy of the US magazine Pitchfork Media , Baroness wrote “some of their greatest and strongest songs in their history” on Purple . The album also contains “their best hooks and melodies” and is “shorter and more precise than Yellow & Green ”. Stosuy awarded 8.5 out of ten points. According to Patrick Friedland from the music magazine Monkeypress.de , the vinyl version should be significantly better in terms of mastering. On the CD version "guitar, bass and drums merge into a hard-to-enjoy sound mud".
Chart placements
Purple entered the German album charts at number 64 . In the United States, the album reached number 70 on the Billboard 200 and in Switzerland number 88. In all three countries, Purple ranked far lower than the previous album Yellow & Green . In other countries, the album was placed at number 36 in Norway, number 75 in the Netherlands and number 91 in the Flemish part of Belgium.
Awards
The German magazine Visions chose Purple as album of the year 2015. In German Metal Hammer the album took fifth place among the albums of the year, but had to share this position with the album Ire from Parkway Drive .
Individual evidence
- ↑ METALLICA, DISTURBED, KORN, MEGADETH, GOJIRA, BARONESS, PERIPHERY Among GRAMMY AWARDS Nominees. Blabbermouth.net , accessed December 7, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Wolfgang Liu Kuhn: Reborn in pain . In: Rock Hard , January 2016, page 36
- ↑ a b c Christina Wenig: Return in violet . In: Metal Hammer , January 2016, page 54
- ↑ a b c d Jan Schwarzkamp: The scars remain . In: Visions No. 273, page 26ff.
- ↑ Baroness in the German charts. Federal Association of the Music Industry , accessed on December 31, 2015 .
- ↑ Baroness in the Swiss charts. Hung Medien, accessed January 2, 2016 .
- ^ Baroness Chart history. Billboard , accessed December 31, 2015 .
- ^ Dennis Drögemüller: Baroness - Purple. Visions, accessed December 26, 2015 .
- ^ Lothar Gerber: Baroness - Purple. Metal Hammer. Accessed December 26, 2015 .
- ↑ Brandon Stosuy: Baroness - Purple. Pitchfork Media , accessed December 26, 2015 .
- ↑ Patrick Friedland: CD review BARONESS - PURPLE. Monkeypress.de , December 30, 2015, accessed January 12, 2016 .
- ↑ Dennis Drögemüller: Our 50 records of the year: Place 25-1. Visions, accessed January 4, 2016 .
- ^ Eike Cramer: The Albums of the Year 2015. Metal Hammer, accessed on January 4, 2016 .