Savannah sludge-prog/hard-rock quartet Baroness are hearing up to release the highly anticipated follow-up to 2015’s Grammy-nominated breakthrough album Purple. All of the group’s albums — starting with its 2007 debut LP Red — have been named for colors, and their new one follows suit. Titled Gold & Grey, the record will also feature original cover artwork by Baroness singer and guitarist John Dyer Baizley, a revered visual artist who has not only created the covers for his band’s past releases but also created pieces for Metallica, Kvelertak, Kylesa and many other notable heavy-music acts.
Baroness recently debuted a new song “Borderlines” live at the kickoff show of their current North American co-headlining tour with Deafheaven, and today, they revealed Baizley’s full cover painting for Gold & Grey, a stunning, almost absurdly detailed piece picturing a trio of scantily clad women wearing elaborate headdresses and necklaces, surrounded by birds and flowers, clutching various symbolic implements.
“This is just the first piece of a much larger puzzle,” Baizley wrote on Instagram, where the painting was unveiled. “Like the forthcoming album itself, it is the result of an intense, tireless, and psychotically convoluted creative process. … This painting was born from a deeply personal reflection on the past 12 years of this band’s history, and will stand as the 6th and final piece in our chromatically-themed records. … Don’t look too closely, you might just see all the hidden elements.” Check it out — and look closely, if you dare — below. No release date for Gold & Grey has been announced as of yet.
