Baroness - STONE (Deluxe) (2023) [Hi-Res]

The origins of 'Stone' go back to 2020. It is not a pandemic record, but the core of it was written during its darkest days. Anxiety, relief, and resolve are stitched deeply throughout. When the foursome was isolated in Pennsylvania and New York, turning stems of music into full-fledged songs felt insurmountable. Baroness toiled as the world roiled. Creativity fully flourished only when they escaped to an Airbnb in Barryville, a quaint hamlet on the New York/Pennsylvania border. The undulating 'Beneath the Rose', the energetic drive of 'Anodyne', the trad-metal burlof 'Last Word,' and the dynamic introspection of 'Shine' rushed out, as did the motorik of 'Choir' and the emotional heft of 'Magnolia'. Stone was a sort of catharsis, a turning of the page, a middle finger to the suffocating insincerity of expectation.