Terata should write reviews.

so the bassline sounds like it was stolen from nickleback and the singer sounds like he took his vocal stylings from nonpoint. and they put a gay little qotsa guitar riff in there. i dislike this more than i dislike the curl of the burl. oh mastodon wherever you may go, baroness will follow

"Take My Bones Away" is a perfect example of another heavy band on its way down the road to pop cash land. Not unlike their bretheren in bands like Torche and Monstro, I think Baroness has figured out that they can make more money playing more "accessible" tunes. Mastodon took cues from Josh (QOTSA) and Maynard (TOOL) and realigned their sound and image toward a more user friendly experience. Soften the edges, more people will come. It's not necessarily a BAD thing. It is for the fan who is nostalgic for the early days, the heavy days, the beginning when the fires burned hot. But these bands are seeing an opportunity to put their logos on teenage girls panties and I'm sure that's more appealing to their business sense than re-hashing the same record for 10 years while trying to appeal to a bunch of old, fat, bearded wasteoids who love to bitch and moan about everything on the internet.

I wish em luck. I won't be buying it, but I bet my 22 year old cousin who doesn't like metal will surely be interested.

The danger of courting the "hipster" (i.e. younger, more indie-rock-oriented crowd) is that their interest invariably wanes after the novelty of you wears off.

They treat bands the same way they treat tech. iPhone4 is only cool when it's blingy and new and not everyone has one (think of those clever hipster-mocking Samsung ads). Same goes for bands. You have a 1 or 2 year window of being novel, hip, cool... but once you reach critical mass they'll abandon you outright for something else.

Metal fans, however, will be fans FOREVER… so long as you keep on giving them that thing they like. They will buy your records, see your concerts, buy your merch, write long-winded reviews of everything you do. They will PROSELYTIZE for you. If you want anything resembling a long term career, these are the people (okay, guys mostly) you need to court.

E.g. me. I'm seeing Iron Maiden this summer. This is a band I discovered when I was 10. And Iron Maiden, minus a few disastrous missteps (which the band openly acknowledges were missteps), has stayed pretty true to what they were doing on those first three records. Same goes for Priest... they'll be touring as long as they're physically able to. But they probably won't be doing much material off Turbo.

So yeah, it’s nice to see more boobs and less beards and your shows. But you’re seeing them en route to the cut out bin and State Fair circuit.

Well put, sir.

I've tried to get into these guys but they just don't do anything for me. This song is no exception.

Ryno and MILLION MAN are spot on in my book. Couldn't have said it better. Turbo! Ha. I forgot all about that one. "I'm your turbo lover..." He-he. When Rob came out, that song took on a "hole" new meaning. And I'm not smart enough to write reviews. I'm just a smart-ass. I'm also old enough to appreciate beards as much as boobs. I've seen plenty of boobs in my life. They usually mean trouble. I've been with a good, steady pair for six years now. (My God, she would kill me if she read this!) But I do believe the fans of good underground metal and hard rock bands are as loyal as the come. Look at bands like Clutch, HOF, Entombed, Meshuggah, Exodus, Five Horse Johnson, COC, Colour Haze, Dozer...as well as some of the older bands still active: Maiden, Preist, Saxon, Riot, Anvil...Freakin Motorhead!!! These guys still pack venues with loyal fans who have already seen them 100 times! They may have changed a little, but their main formulas have stayed the same and they have maintained and grown their fan base because of this. The pay-off may take a little longer, but their legendary status, their authenticity and satisfaction from doing what they truly want to do has to count for something? I don't know? I really did like the "Red" and "Blue" albums and was hoping for a natural progression from those on this new one. Not a complete about face stylistically. Oh well, want in one hand, shit in the other...

Doing whatever the hell you want > Doing the same thing for 30 years

I was reading the interview in Decibel, and it has the usual tone. Same as Mastodon did. They have the right to go where they want to go, and if they think they are evolving in a positive way, then god bless them. But to accuse the fans of being "narrow-minded" and shit like that is such a smokescreen. How do people usually avoid self-critique? By the assumption that everybody else "just doesn't get it". It's an ironclad defense. These critical fans are so close minded! What do they know! Like we all don't have record collections that go from Cannibal Corpse to James Taylor. The type of people who listened to Baroness in the first place probably had fairly expansive tastes. Does anybody here really put on an album and say "this ain't heavy!" and throw the disc out the window?

Obviously, people have their own tastes, and anybody here tends toward the heavy end, but I feel like musicians, as fellow music fans, should give people the benefit of the doubt. Don't act like your foray into pop is going to blow my mind. It's been done. This is 2012.

Like I said in the Mastodon topic, people will buy "different", we all have record collections full of "different". But we won't buy "crap".

Well, maybe I will.

Torche is good at what they do, no need to lump then into this discussion.

As for this track, I have tried to listen to it a few times now and I just like it less and less.

You guys gotta be kiddin'. Metal fans are some of the most fickle, whiny, picky, close minded haters any musician has to put up with. They've got 10,000 dumb little rules you've got to follow (while still posturing as a "rebel" even) and they throw a bitchy little internet fit over whatever you do. Every goddamn one of the artists mentioned in this thread puts out every record they make to choruses of "they sold out"; "I haven't liked anything since the first album"; "the songs sounded good live but the production sucks"; "I don't like the new direction"; "OMG! They CUT THEIR HAIR!"; "I hated the last record even though every else loved it"; and other similar complaints. Every one of them has endured long dry spells in their popularity with fans bitchin' left and right about every damn new idea they have on one hand and about how their new album is just more of the same only not as good on the other. Every one. High On Fire's fans are loyal? Have you read this site?

This new song doesn't sound "pop" to me at all. It sounds "rock'n' roll" rather than "metal" I guess, but that just isn't a bad thing in my book. A whole record that sounds Neil Young & Crazy Horse-ish and a whole record of stylistic expansion sounds fuckin' cool to me. Frankly, from the perspective of my job at the record store, this sounds to me like a much harder sell then a record with them just bringin' the heavy,

So, true...Also a lot of people here praise last two Torche albums which are total pop. Well, although Torche are quite fun band, this I like more. It sounds way more mature. Also if you heard the live version of "Take My Bones Away" it's obvious Baroness are still that heavy and hard hitting band we all love...this is just more straight forward, more melodic and better sung than their previous stuff. But hey, it's really dumb to judge the whole album and band by just one song. The rest of the album could just be the best thing they've done yet, or it could just suck elephant's balls.

yeah thats what you guys said about the hunter too but that whole fucking album blew. baroness has went the way of the mastodon

I don't hear a pop angle. I hear a band, like Mastodon, attempting to evolve. I applaud that. As long as the song is well written. Frankly, I wouldn't care if I heard Baroness try a direction of heavy synths, samples, or something like that. As long as there is melody, some depth, and an interesting chorus...I really don't care how 'heavy' it is from a typical metal sense. Like Snart said, I could be spinning Entombed 'Wolverine Blues' one minute, and Peter Gabriel 3rd solo album next. I care about songwriting first and foremost. This first baroness single is boring, regardless of how edgy it is. Baroness and Mastodon excelled at writing excellent heavy music with depth early in their career. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like either of them can capture that same magic in their songwriting when they venture into other territories. It's too bad, but that's what separates the truly elite bands in music history. They can continue to write music at the highest level without repeating themselves.

Well, the fact that there is so much opinion and reaction to this 1st single is really just a testament to how much impact the band has made on us in the 1st place. Like I said, I totally loved the Red and Blue albums. I can't get into this first single, but I will give the rest of it a try. Like many have already said, it doesn't always have to be heavy, just good! Neil Young is probably my favorite singer/songwriter ever! Give him an acoustic guitar and he can convey more raw emotion and intensity than most metal bands. It's just a different kind of intensity. I like Gordon Lightfoot and Neil Diamond (Once in a while?) I don't really think Baroness sold out because I don't think they're going sell a whole lot if it's all like this? And I really don't agree with that term in the first place. I don't know these guys. I don't know if they are being pressured by mgmt or truly doing what they want to do? If there is a double album of songs like this, I don't get it either way? I'll be the first to admit it. I'll stick with "A Horse Called Golgotha" and "Jake Leg" and most of the Red album. I'm not fickle or closed-minded. I don't think most metal fans are either? I don't think you can generalize any group of people, except Canadians! They're just plain stupid! (Kidding.) And I didn't exactly hate "The Hunter". It may be my least favorite Mastadon, but that's still pretty damn good. Let's see what the rest of the album is like? I'm im my 40's and have rolled with a lot of changes. Some, I just couldn't get into...like Machinehead! But they came back around and have made two good metal albums in a row. It's all just personal preferance. We all know what we like. I'll give it a fair chance. Now, that new Soundgarden song just plain scares the shit out of me???

"Metal fans, however, will be fans FOREVER… so long as you keep on giving them that thing they like. They will buy your records, see your concerts, buy your merch, write long-winded reviews of everything you do."

Bingo: Scion's long term marketing strategy.

the more I listen to the song, the more I like it.

Not jazzed about this song, but I will withhold judgement until the album.

new track streaming at pitchfork:
http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13741-march-to-the-sea/

me likey, but I'm sure the backlash will grow.....

The butthurt in this thread will be of biblical proportions.

Let it commence!

now this was underwhelming.

The Butthurt Shitstorms over bands getting more melodic/less heavy are always fantastic on multiple levels.

This song is a lot better than that first one.

It's definitely a step up from the other song, but it still sounds like a cover version of some radio friendly alt rock band from the 90s.

And Relapse won't let me cancel the pre-order for the 2LP - which is just bad business ethics if you ask me.

I had a legitmate reason to cancel with them and they did the same with me. I am buying the album anyway on disc but I wanted to cancel the LP as my record player is no more. After agreeing to refund me they didn't bother their arse, and after two weeks of ignored emails to them I had to go through a paypal dispute to get it sorted. First time ever having to do that in about 10 years buying records online. Never again will I purchase direct from Relapse.