Show Review: Baroness/Earthless @ The Riot Room

Earthless:

Baroness:

It's been a while since I've actually written up anything about a show I went to. Usually I forget to take my camera, I drink quite a bit and don't take any kind of notes. Those three combined leaves me with the feeling that I don't have the right to post any sort of "review" of a show. In reality, I'm not really reviewing the performance so much, but more writing about two of the more intense live bands I've seen in a while.

I went to this show to see Baroness. I've written something up recently on their most recent album that you can read HERE. Whenever I'm going to a show, I always try and check up on the opening bands in hopes that I'll see something that I might enjoy. The band that opened the show, Earthless, might have been the worst choice for an opening band ever. They aren't a bad choice because they aren't good, because they are one of the best live bands I've ever seen. They are a bad choice for an opening band because I don't know how anyone could follow them without coming off as limp or boring. Earthless are a three piece that plays a sort of stoner rock jam and metal hybrid. They played what seemed like one long song for their whole 40 minute set, but things never got boring. It was like watching three insanely talented musicians just jam and solo for 40 minutes straight. Their drummer was absolutely insane and I was exhausted from just watching him play. Like I said, Earthless put on one of the best live performances I've ever seen, DO NOT MISS them if you have the chance to see them play.

The headliner, Baroness, is a four piece metal band from Savannah, Georgia. They have two near perfect metal albums already under their belt with the release of their second full-length, Blue Album this year. They also might be one of the only bands that could actually follow an Earthless performance. They played an hour of music with songs ranging from both full length albums and their previous EP's as well. They are a really tight live band and are able to pull off almost all of the sounds and feel they've put to record. Discovering Baroness and digging into their back catalog is responsible for me diving head first back into metal music over the past month or so. I still haven't discovered anything nearly as good as the Baroness albums, but it's been fun trying to find one.

Baroness Myspace
Earthless Myspace

-Matt