The progressive sludgers of Baroness had one more stop to go before the end of their tour. Rotterdam’s WATT had the honour of hosting them, again in a packed venue as always for them in The Netherlands it seems. Let’s see how they do on their first European tour on the Blue Record.

 

Originally planned to open this night was Tank 86, who unfortunately cancelled but were replaced with the more than worthy Heavy Lord whom I’ve seen many times in the past. The last time was actually quite some time (if not years) ago, so I was anxious to see them play and hear some songs of their awesome Chained To The World record. Luckily most of the set consisted of songs from this record, and to top it they played a new song that is due to be recorded this summer which sounded very, very promising. Heavy Lord play a nice mixture of stoner doom with sludge and some hints of post-hardcore, which sounds real nice if the volume is fucking loud and overwhelming, which it luckily was this night. The band made quite a few mistakes in their set, but their sound prevailed over this in my opinion. It was good to see them again after all this time (especially in front of so many people) and I could definitely hear the progress they’ve made (especially the drummer seems to have gotten faster, next to still bashing like a maniac). Hope to see them on good shows like this more often! (DemonDust)

 

Next up was de main act of tonight, the almighty Baroness!!! Some call it Mastodon light, and seeing as there were a couple of pretty women in the room (instead of just fat dudes with beards) they can be seen as lighter. Baroness proved that light shouldn't be mentioned in the same sentence as their name! They let us know it was go-time from the start. Starting off with some songs from the Blue Record, they rocked the fuck out of the WATT basement. Too bad the sound wasn't all that....Baroness is a band that thrives on good sound in a venue, like they had at the Roadburn festival where I checked 'em out last year. Because the sound wasn't that great, most of the songs and harmony vocals sounded the same. Mixing it up with some songs of their fantastic first Red Album and encoring with their first song ever ‘Tower Falls’ from the First EP, Baroness proved they are ready for the next step, which means bigger venues. Because in comparison to this show, the show at Roadburn was way, way better.

 

Weird fact at a Baroness show; the crowd doesn't really know whether to mosh at the louder bits, because the melodic bits can kick in any moment. Somehow this gives a weird vibe somewhere in between a TOOL and a Mastodon concert. (LondonCustoms)