BARONESS 'BLUE' 2LP (Picture Disc)

Savannah, Georgia's Baroness aren't the heaviest-hitting band on the Southern sludge scene, but they are the most song-minded act in that crowded world, a quality they put to excellent use throughout their follow-up to 2007's celebrated Red Album. Whether they're going John Fahey folky ("Blackpowder Orchard"), rumbling through a six-minute barbarian-thrash jam ("Swollen and Halo") or layering creepy spoken-word samples over a speedy disco-metal beat, Baroness retained a sense of melody and structure here that had Blue Record resonating far beyond the bayou.