Prog-metal heroes Baroness headline UC Theatre in Berkeley
BERKELEY -- Metal experimentalists Baroness bring their current tour promoting the band's latest album Stone to the UC Theatre in Berkeley this Sunday night.
Founded in Savannah, Georgia, in 2003 by guitarist and singer John Baizley, the group followed the artful lead of fellow Georgia metal mavericks like Atlanta powerhouse Mastodon and fellow Savannah band Kylesa (whose guitarist Phillip Cope would produce the crew's early EPs and debut album), weaving elements of progressive and psychedelic rock and post punk into their sludgy, metallic sound. The band quickly built a regional following and earned raves for the intricate songs of its seismic Relapse Records debut Red Album in 2007, getting awarded Revolver Magazine's Metal Album of the Year.
The follow-up Blue Record in 2009 was also met with universal critical acclaim. Another effort featuring Baizley's distinctive artwork on the cover (he would also create covers for Skeleton Witch, Kvelertak, Torche and Flight of the Conchords) and the band's dense riff architecture and complex dynamics, the album moved easily from ambient psychedelia to tandem guitar orchestrations by Baizley and new addition Pete Adams, playing almost more like a symphonic suite than a collection of songs.
Touring with such notable contemporaries as the Bay Area's own High on Fire and Metallica, Opeth and the aforementioned Mastodon, the band ascension to headliner status seemed assured. But Baroness would be hit with a major setback when, only a month after the release of their ambitious 2012 double album Yellow & Green, their tour bus plummeted off of a viaduct in England, with three of the band members suffering broken bones.
After a period of recovery, the band would undergo a serious transformation with the rhythm section departing the following year (Trans Am drummer Sebastian Thomson and bassist Nick Jost would take their places). But Baizley and company persevered, launching a successful headlining tours of the U.S. and Europe. The band would eventually return to the studio to produce Purple, the quartet's most tuneful and anthemic effort to date on their own new imprint, Abraxan Hymns. Baroness would earn its first and only Grammy to date with it's songs "Shock Me."
The band's long awaited fifth album Gold & Silver was released in 2019, the first recording to feature new guitarist Gina Gleason, who took over for the departing Pete Adams in 2018. Incorporating more synthesizers (especially on the short instrumental pieces scattered throughout the hourlong effort), the ambitious record earned Baroness another round of critical accolades.
Last year, the group hit the road for its "Your Baroness" tour, performing an opening set of songs voted on by fans who had tickets for the show, followed by a second set of tunes selected by the band at smaller venues. Baroness had been discussing work on a new album long before that tour, noting that the members had written over 30 songs as of the fall of 2020 during Zoom meeting and through file sharing. The fruits of that productive period were narrowed down to the ten songs featured on the band's latest recording Stone that was finally released last month. The album has been hailed by some as the crew's most melodic and accessible effort. Baroness returns to the UC Theatre in Berkeley this Sunday night. Denver-based sludge/doom metal outfit Primitive Man, the slowcore/dream pop project of multi-instrumentalist Madeline Johnston known as Midwife and Los Angeles "ecstatic" black metal band Agriculture also appear.
Baroness with Primitive Man, Midwife and Agriculture
Sunday, Oct. 29, 5:30 p.m. $32.50
UC Theatre
