Work on
Stone, the sixth album by
Baroness, began during the pandemic. The band held Monday night Zoom meetings and shared files, riffs, and songs. They amassed 30 tracks before entering a Barryville, New York home studio in November to cut the best of what they had, and they recorded and mixed each track individually, creating unique sonic portraits. Long tours followed in 2021 and 2022, further delaying
Stone's release.
Baroness' standard recording approach combines sludge-and-stoner metal with prog, folk, drones, and psych.
Stone, self-produced and mixed by
Joe Barresi, focuses closely on the band's attention to songwriting, craft, and execution; they cover the seams between their directional shifts. On the lion's share of
Stone,
Baroness offers shorter songs and stretches out within them.
Opener "Embers" is a minute-long acoustic intro with
Baizley,
Gleason, and bassist
Nick Jost in three-part harmony. It dissolves into the blistering prog metal of "Last Word." Anthemic vocals are supported by soaring refrains in multi-part harmony as serpentine guitar hooks are underscored by thundering kick drums and crash cymbals.
Gleason's screaming 30-second guitar solo rips the tune open during its second half. "Beneath the Rose" opens with a knotty, precise, yet dissonant exchange between bass, drums, and lead guitar before the riff crashes in with
Gleason and
Baizley playing in unison before they shift into intense, crushing, staggered vamps. "Choir" chugs along with ringing guitar sonics, a syncopated bassline, and grooving drums before kitman
Sebastian Thomson stitches in a synth for dramatic effect. "The Dirge" is a short interlude about death offered with acoustic guitars, a droning synth, and ironically bright, sweetly delivered, three-part vocal harmony. "Anodyne" vamps in ominously, offering massive riffs and an intricate melody unfolding through the minor-key progression. "Shine" commences as acoustic prog, but shatters that notion quickly with pummeling percussive force, ringing, psychedelic guitars, and
Baizley's vocal roaring over the top with compelling, poetic lyrics that place him in a league of his own. "Magnolia" introduces itself as a proggy acoustic ballad, ethereal, dark, and alluring.
Gleason's tender slide guitar break evolves less than 30 seconds later into a shattering power riff underscored by
Thomson's kit. The tune's frame shatters as
Baroness moves into taut, seamless prog metal. A funereal sludge fuels the endless plodding in "Under the Wheel" (the set's only misstep), while closer "Bloom" is an acoustic ballad with a breezy, circular melody that sounds influenced by the
Grateful Dead's
Workingman's Dead. In sum,
Stone balances
Baroness' carefully crafted shorter ambitions with mid-length jams to provide listeners with constantly shifting tensions, fluid dynamics, lush harmonies, and pile-driving riffs.
Stone reveals a wide musical portrait of the ever-evolving
Baroness, who seems to be embarking on a more expansive creative voyage. ~ Thom Jurek