Baroness

It's tired to say this, but I'm tired and I'm going to say it: Baroness's The Red Album (Relapse) is an old-school headphones album par excellence—if such things still exist. You need some undisturbed time to see how active-rock magazine Revolver's 2007 Album of the Year goes way beyond the sum of its parts and occasional missteps. There're a few too many times where riffs stand in for tunes, the band meanders when it could cut to the chase, and the raspy, bellowed vocals feel like an afterthought. But after a couple of listens, those pointy little quibbles get sanded down to nothing. It's hard to deny those sweeping, powerful, and nimble soundscapes peppered with bits of baroque freak-folk guitar fireworks, Southern rock harmonics, and a rhythm section that tails the kinetic, heavy arrangements like a hungry bloodhound downwind from a smokehouse. Bison and Building Better Bombs open. All ages.
Fri., Sept. 26, 5 p.m., 2008