The band’s first album since their debilitating 2012 bus crash.

We’re lucky to still have Baronessin 2015. Shortly after releasing their excellent 2013 double-album Yellow & Green the Georgia metal band experienced a tour bus crash in England that left frontman and guitarist John Baizley severely mangled and nearly unable to play. After a long road to recovery and the departure of two band members, Baroness have pulled together to create Purple, a new LP produced by Flaming Lips-member (and Sleater-Kinney and Tame Impala producer) Dave Fridmann.

The album isn’t out until December 13 (via their own label Abraxan Hymns), but today you can hear the first single ‘Chlorine & Wine’. To say they sound revitalized would be an understatement. Listen to it below and read some comments about the new record from Baizley.

After releasing a lengthy and investigative record like Yellow & Green we all felt that we needed to make something much more direct and immediate. We wanted to write with our normal focus on artistry, balanced against an increased level of energy and focus. It was important for us to write our new songs with the type of enthusiasm and expressiveness that could act as a counterpoint to the album’s dark themes. As a result, the music came out in an intense, heavy and sonically captivating in a new way, which was important, loathe, as we are to fall into any kind of complacency pitfall or formulaic songwriting routine. Purple is the most fully realized representation of our intention as a band; considering the amount of physical and mental energy spent writing it, we have accomplished something which would have seemed impossible to us a couple of years ago.