April 15 - Eula

I am cheating a little today. Today's song is the last song on Baroness' Yellow album, but since that only is available in tandem with Green and Green is the second of the two, the last track on Green, If I Forget Thee, Lowcountry, is the double album closer. However, since the two have distinctly different feel to them and indeed seem like two separate albums (the running time could fit on one CD, which I believe supports my take on the albums being seen as separate), I am choosing to accept Eula, which is the closer on Yellow as an album closer and the song of the day.

When Yellow & Green was released in July 2012, it received a pretty ecstatic reception. Following gradually increasing successes with Red Album and Blue Record, they were poised for greatness. Then they toured England, and on August 15, less than a month after its release, their tour bus fell about 30 feet (9 meters) from a viaduct near Bath. Original drummer Allen Blickle and the more recently added bass player Matt Maggioni both suffered fractured vertebrae and subsequently left the band. Guitarist Pete Adams suffered some injuries, but was treated and released rather quickly. Guitarist, singer, lyricist and only remaining founding member John Dyer Baizley had his left arm crushed and broke a leg. His injuries to his hand were the most severe; as online music magazine Spin points out, "It took two large titanium plates, 20 screws, a foot-and-a-half of wire and almost 50 staples to put the arm back together."

In the summer of 2013, almost a year after the accident, John Dyer Baizley and Pete Adams found drummer Sebastian Thomson and bass player Nick Jost and hit the road again, thanking their fans for staying by their side and supporting them in recovery. They found their way to Grand Rapids, where they held a show at very small and alternative venue The Pyramid Scheme. I had just been to the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts watching my daughters perform with the Flat River Dance Company, and was dressed fairly conservatively - polo shirt and dress slacks - which made me feel like the odd man out in the audience. It doesn't help that you are in your forties when most people around you are in their twenties. However, I quickly got over myself and enjoyed their opening act, Coliseum, before finally getting to experience the mighty Baroness live. And let me tell you that it was quite something. While they still were getting to know each other musically, there was such an exuberant joy coming from John Baizley and Pete Adams especially - you could simply feel how badly they really wanted this. And I don't care how much people were hardened metal heads in the audience, Baizley's heartfelt thank you to the audience should have moistened at least the corner of their eyes as well. I know it did mine - but then again, I am a sentimental sap. Anyway - one of the things they do really well is blending melody with ferocious power, and if you listen to Eula, that is exactly what you will hear!