UMUR
"The Baroness" is a single release by US, California based thrash/alternative/funk metal act Mordred. The single was independently released in February 2015. Mordred formed in 1984 and disbanded in 1995 after releasing three full-length studio albums and a string of minor releases. They reunited in the 2001-2007 period, but no new studio output was recorded during that period. Mordred reunited again in 2013 and released "The Baroness" single which was their first release featuring new original material in 21 years (they released "The Demos 1986-1988" compilation in 2014, but as the title suggests it didn´t feature any new original material).
21 years is a long time not having released any new original material, but it doesn´t take more than a few seconds of listening to "The Baroness" before you should be convinced that Mordred are back with a vengeance. Bay Area type thrash metal riffs, turntable sctratching, and lead vocalist Scott Holderby delivering his rather unique talking/singing vocal style. This 2015 single version of "The Baroness" is quite different from the version of the track which would appear on the 2020 "Volition" EP, and unfortunately having listened to the 2020 recording first and this one after, I definitely favor the 2020 version. This one doesn´t feature as much bite and conviction as the version of the track which Mordred would include on the "Volition" (2020) EP. When that it said this single version of "The Baroness" is still a high quality track, and it´s a welcome comeback for Mordred. Unfortunately it would take them another 5 years before they released something again, but in this case it was worth the wait. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
