Concert Review: Baroness at Metro

Baroness at Metro (Chicago): Aug. 21, 2016

You just can’t help but root for Baroness: the band recently released its best (and fourth) album, *Purple,* which represents a come-back after a horrific tour bus accident in 2012 left them broken. And John Baizley is not only a gifted singer and guitarist, he’s also a brilliant painter, having done artwork for his own band and others, from Kvelertak to Metallica.

All that would be moot if they didn’t bring the goods live. They brought it at Metro with a 90-minute set that had everyone in attendance reveling in how fun heavy metal can be. The band played *Purple* in its entirety (not in album order and omitting the brief instrumental that closes the album), proving that recent collection of songs to be all killer, no filler. Hard rockers “Shock Me,” “Try To Disappear” and “Desperation Burns” were highlights from the album, and the crowd--which maintained the friendliest mosh pit around--reacted just as lustily by singing along  to the album’s ballad, “If I Have To Wake Up (Would You Stop The Rain)?” Baizley and guitarist Peter Adams were technicians on their respective guitar parts, with the two of them in perfect harmony during the numerous twin lead guitar solos, especially on “Fugue.”

Baizley, with his near-bald head, long black beard and gleaming white eyes and teeth--was a true frontman, exuberantly delivering his vocals and flashing smiles to the audience, as if he was in on some joke about how fun it was to play a rock god on stage. It was hard to tell who was having more fun: the audience or Baizley. And bassist Nick Jost, with ‘stach and mullet, looked like he stepped off stage with the Scorpions, circa 1989, as he rumbled his five-string bass and did double duty on synthesizer, taking the spotlight for the “Green Theme” instrumental.

Older tracks like “March To The Sea,” “Board Up The House” and “The Gnashing,” which ended the main set, were also delivered with bombast.

“Take My Bones Away”--an outstanding track from the *Yellow* album released just before the fateful bus crash--closed the three-song encore, with Adams telling the audience to “get home safe.” It was a reminder of what was, and what almost wasn’t.

SET LIST

Kerosene

March To The Sea

Morningstar

Shock Me

Board Up The House

Green Theme

The Iron Bell

If I Had To Wake Up (Would You Stop The Rain?)

Fugue

Little Things

Chlorine & Wine

Try To Disappear

Desperation Burns

The Gnashing

ENCORE

Isak

The Sweetest Curse

Take My Bones Away

Link to *Purple* album review.

Link to Illinois Entertainer magazine webpage, where this review was also published.

Album Review: Faith No More's "We Care A Lot"

FAITH NO MORE

*We Care A Lot* reissue  (Deluxe Band Edition)

(Koolarrow)

The reissue of Faith No More’s debut album is a nice package (10 original tracks and nine other demo, live or 2016 mixes) that shows the genesis of one of the most influential bands in alternative music, and a band that had already developed its thudding bass and crunchy guitar riffs on its way to alternative punk-metal stardom later with singer Mike Patton. “We Care A Lot” was the standout track from the 1985 debut, and the 2016 mix tightens up the composition, getting right to the chorus after the first verse, unlike the original edit that lets the tribal bass / drum interplay lead the way for a moment. All the 2016 mixes tamper little with the originals, so devout fans might have fun pointing out the subtle tweaks. Singer Chuck Mosley’s vocals work best fully throated, as on “As The Worm Turns,” another track that gets a 2016 mix, and on the original demo version of “Greed” with a Jim Morrison-like wail to end it. Live versions of “The Jungle” and “New Beginnings” from a 1986 show in San Francisco are included, but the mix here favors the drums/cymbals and keyboard, at the expense of guitar and vocals.

8/10

Link to original print version of this review, published in the August 2016 issue of Illinois Entertainer. Click link and navigate PDF to page 28.