Baroness circa 2023 are in a very different place than they were in 2003 or 2013 – no longer the sludgy hardcore raconteurs of their first two EP’s or the genre heavyweights recently traumatized by a horrific bus crash, they’ve settled into their roles as indie metal elder statesman. And they sound… Free? While the concluding two entries of their color wheel series were excellent, they feel reenergized on powerful Southern-tinged rockers like “Last Word” and “Shine.” The bright production helps. So does their willingness to stretch their creative wings: “Choir”’s weird spoken word/Krautrock combo and “Under the Wheel”’s Alice in Chains riff prove that just because they’re out of basic colors doesn’t mean that they’re out of ideas.