Release date: 9/15/2023
Origin: Savannah, GA
Personnel: John Baizley-vox/guitar, Gina Gleason-guitar, Nick Jost-bass/keyboards, Sebastian Thomson-drums
Another super surprise this year was this release from Baroness. Their last couple of records kind of fell flat. I honestly had started to worry that the bus crash they suffered after the release of Yellow and Green may have done something to the creative spark within the band. There were also numerous lineup changes after the crash and it just seemed like the band members were still trying to feel each other out. The last two albums weren’t bad per se, but they didn’t come close to the heights of the band’s earlier material. Stone sees the band return in fiery form. They feel like a new band with a new intensity and have set their minds to make a statement record. The guitar riffs are back. The band has done some experimenting in song structure and performance that add a nice change. Gina Gleason really gets to stretch her legs as lead guitarist on this one and she lays down some of the tastiest leads heard in 2023. Not really a comeback album, but just a nice statement to the world that Baroness is still a force to be reckoned with in the world of metal
5 flip flops out of 5
The list so far:
2. Baroness-Stone
3. Graveyard-6
4. The Ocean-Holocene
5. Hinayana-Shatter and Fall
6. In Flames-Foregone
7. Soen-Memorial
8. Panopticon-The Rime of Memory
9. Mutoid Man-Mutants
10. Enslaved-Heimdal
11. Thron-Dust
12. Harboured-Harboured
13. Herod-Iconoclast
14. Insomnium-Anno 1696
15. Spirit Adrift-Ghost At the Gallows
16. Church of Misery-Born Under a Mad Sign
17. Primordial-How It Ends
18. Imperium Dekadenz-Into Sorrow Evermore
19. Royal Thunder-Rebuilding the Mountain
20. Katatonia-Sky Void of Stars
DISPATCHES FROM THE VOID 