Baroness, from left: Pete Adams, John Baizley, Allen Blickle and Summer Welch. | File December 2009

UPDATE: From Baroness’ facebook page (8.16.12):

> The band members of Baroness and their crew are recovering from injuries sustained after their tour bus crashed outside of Bath, England early on Wednesday morning.

> John Baizley [singer/guitarist/songwriter, formerly of Lexington] has broken his left arm and left leg. Allen Blickle [drummer, formerly of Lexington] and Matt Maggioni each suffered fractured vertebrae. All three remain in the hospital as of this writing. Pete Adams [guitarist/songwriter, formerly of Lexington] has been treated and released from the hospital.

> Three of the five crew members who were on the bus have also been treated and released. One member is still undergoing testing. The driver of the bus remains in critical condition.

> Please stay tuned for further updates. Thank you for all the support during this extremely difficult time.

According to the BBC and Baroness‘ website, the band members — including two former Lexington residents — were riding on their tour bus when it fell about 30 feet from a viaduct after a show in Bristol, England.

Nine passengers were onboard at the time. Two who were trapped in the crash’s aftermath were rescued but suffered “multiple fractures,” emergency workers told the BBC. The identities of the injured have not been released. The bus driver was apparently one of those who had been trapped, according to the report.

“Torrential” rain and low visibility may have been factors, according to the BBC.

A message posted to Baroness’ website reads: “Baroness were in a serious bus accident last night near Bath, England. The band members and crew are recovering at local hospitals. All tour dates are postponed until further notice.

“More updates to come.”

We wrote a profile of the band in 2009 — after the release of its popular “Blue Record” — with a focus on former Lexington residents John Baizley and Pete Adams, both of whom sing and play guitar. The Roanoke Times’ Mason Adams wrote the following review last month of the band’s new album.

BARONESS

“Yellow & Green” (Relapse)

The new album from Baroness is a sludgy stew of metal-tinged progressive Southern rock that’s packed with hooks and earworms. In the ’90s Baroness’ new double album would have fallen under the label “alternative rock.” Today it’s “progressive sludge metal.”

But it’s really a throwback to the classic rock albums that the band’s singer/guitarists, John Baizley and Pete Adams — both of whom have roots in Rockbridge County — heard growing up.

The double album is loaded with hooks, rhythms and grooves that grew from those roots, whether it’s the hard-driving riffing of “Take My Bones Away,” the album’s first single, or a boogie-woogie breakdown during “The Line Between” that hearkens back to the devil’s fiddle solo in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia.”

This album is cleaner and more polished than past efforts, which will no doubt irritate some fans of the band’s metal roots but potentially open Baroness to a wider audience. But longtime fans can trace a distinct progression from 2007’s “Red Album” to 2009’s “Blue Record.” And now “Yellow & Green.”

The album is divided into two themes — the yellow and green of the title — with the first side rocking a little harder and the second side taking a slightly mellower approach. Both sides mix up thematic instrumentals with more fleshed-out songs so there’s a nice flow to the album whether one listens to it over the course of four sides on double vinyl or in a straight progression on an MP3 player.

Clocking in just under an hour and 15 minutes, this is a long record, but it flows by like the Maury River on a hot summer day.

— Mason Adams