Baroness (US)

 

Baroness are, next to Isis and Mastodon, one of the most interesting metal bands to surface on the American music scene after 2000. Their drumwork and massive riffs are clearly born of the heritage of Metallica and perhaps even Black Sabbath, yet they boldly explore new sounds and search for inspiration in genres so distant from orthodox metal as punk and garage noise rock. After two critically acclaimed LPs, Red Album and Blue Record, as well as a series of performances alongside metal heavywieghts, Baroness decided to take 2011 off. Or, perhaps more accurately, they took a year off to work on their upcoming album Yellow & Green (to be released this July), enlisting John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, St. Vincent) as the producer.