Baroness

Baroness came recommended by the Ancient VVisdom guys (I reviewed them here) when we met in Austin last year. For some reason, it took me a while to get round to checking them out. But I’m glad I did.

Things almost ended very badly when the band were involved in a nasty tour bus accident in England in 2012. There were serious injuries for several people and it did lead to two members quitting the band. Happily, after some rehabilitation time and the recruitment of some talented replacements, the band returned to touring and it appears that this close call (along with the new members) left them feeling re-charged.

As well as singing/playing rhythm guitar, John Dyer Baizley provides album artwork (not only for Baroness but for a number of other bands) and was the subject of a small exhibition at  2013’s SXSW festival, where he also played an acoustic set. This artwork has led to the albums becoming colour coded: Red, Blue and most recently Yellow & Green which I can’t praise highly enough. It’s more melodic that it’s predecessors but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have balls and more than a few head-shredding moments.

You can decide for yourself though with this full show courtesy of Germany’s legendary Rockpalast series.

Join the noble cause at https://baronessmusic.com