Savannah, Georgia's Baroness aren't the heaviest-hitting band on the Southern sludge scene, nor are they its fiercest instrumentalists. They are, however, 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 breaking out the acoustics and 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.