''Purple'' is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

. It was released December 18, 2015 through the band's newly founded label Abraxan Hymns. It is the first album to be released by the band following their involvement in the 2012 bus accident that left nine people injured; it is also the first album to feature new band members Nick Jost and

Sebastian Thomson Sebastian Thomson is a Grammy-nominated musician based in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently the drummer for Baroness, Trans Am, and solo act Publicist. Early life Thomson was born in Chaco, Argentina and spent his formative years in Argentina, Br ...

, playing bass/keyboards and drums respectively and the last album to feature Pete Adams before his departure from the band in 2017. The first single from the album, "Chlorine & Wine", was released on August 28, 2015. The second single from the album, "

Shock Me "Shock Me" is a song by American heavy metal band Kiss, which first appeared on their 1977 album ''Love Gun''. It was written by lead guitarist Ace Frehley, who made his lead vocal debut. The song was inspired by an event that took place during K ...

", was released on November 15, 2015 and reached number 28 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart in the US. The album was included at number 23 on ''Rock Sound''s top 50 releases of 2015 list and at number 7 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

s Best Metal Albums of 2015 list.Bird, ed. 2016, p. 26

Critical reception

''Purple'' was met with critical acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

(a review aggregator site which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from music critics), based on 19 critics, the album received a score of 85/100, which indicates "universal acclaim". In Dom Lawson's review of the album for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', he described the album as a "far more focused and fiery beast; both a return to the stormy riffing and skewed melodies of old and a subtle but unmistakable lunge for mainstream glory. It's a balance they pull off brilliantly."

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

's Brandon Stosuy was likewise praising of the album, writing that "These are some of the biggest, strongest songs that Baroness has written; it's rock music that folds in their more metal leanings, along with something more delicate and spare. The hooks and melodies are their best."

Track listing

Personnel

John Dyer Baizley John Dyer Baizley is an American musician and painter most notable for being the vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Savannah, Georgia heavy metal band Baroness. He has also achieved critical praise for his artworks, some of which have been incorpor ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from the mid-1950s to mid-1980s. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptua ...

*Pete Adams –

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

, acoustic guitar,

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

*Nick Jost –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, additional backing vocals in "Chlorine & Wine" *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, additional backing vocals in "Chlorine & Wine"

Charts

Accolades

References

* {{Authority control 2015 albums Baroness (band) albums Albums produced by Dave Fridmann Albums recorded at Tarbox Road Studios