BARONESS, Empress, Bovine @Academy 3 Birmingham 9/7/12

John Baizley seems almost apologetic. The Baroness frontman appears concerned that the sold out crowd has enjoyed itself enough as he appears onstage for the encore. “We just wanted to connect with you guys,” he says. “Thanks for coming out tonight. The least we can do is give you what we have – and what we have is two more songs.” With that he launches his band into a stunning “Jake Leg” and an instrumental “Grad.”

What they also had was the foresight to give two young, local bands the chance to show their abilities. First up are the sludgy, riff heavy Bovine, who are interesting in a type of early Queens of the Stone Age type way, while the equally youthful Empress are even more impressive.

The four piece need to work on their stage craft, perhaps but their three song set should leave no one in any doubt as to their potential. Borrowing from the likes of Between The Buried And Me theirs is an ambitious sound, and by the end of “Left In Awe” RTM is keen to see more.

Which brings us back to Baroness. Here is a band that truly defies description. Are they sludge? Are they prog? Are they metal? The truth is they are all these things and more, so how about this: They are merely one of the most innovative heavy bands around right now.

Album number three, “Yellow and Green” rather confirms this. A sprawling, 2cd epic it isn’t out until next week, but early indications are that it is a fabulous affair that won’t be far from anyone’s best of 2012 lists.

Baroness play a decent smattering from “Yellow….” Including the single “Take My Bones Away” which is right up there with the songs of the year. The band, for all their reticence, seem to know this too, attacking the song as if lives depend on it. Another new one “March To The Sea,” casually tossed out early is neatly as impressive and the slow burning “Cocainium” rather confirms the early thoughts that the record might just be very special indeed.

As was the album that preceded it, “The Blue Record.” And a good portion of the best bits of this are played. The show begins with “Ogeechee Hymnal” which turns into “A Horse Called Golgotha” just like it does on the CD, before also taking a stop at a majestic “Swollen and Halo.”

If you came to see Baroness playing superb songs almost flawlessly then you were not disappointed, but where the band did surprise was the energy they showed and how much fun they were evidently having onstage, Baizley and new bass man Matt Maggioni even telling jokes. If you thought the group would be a little over earnest or po-faced you were wrong. Baizley is clearly not the most gregarious chap, nor the most talkative, but that never did Mastodon – a band with whom Baroness have much in common – any harm.

Of course he does open up for his rather passionate speech at the start of the encore. In the 10 minutes that follow we can see everything there is to see about Baroness. The only ones, it seems, who don’t realise their effortless brilliance are the band themselves, for the previous 90 minutes they have both enthralled and entertained and yet Baizley still seeks our approval.

This show bordered on the magnificent. Just imagine how good Baroness could be if only they understood how good they are.