Abstract: An article resistant to recession in high temperature environments, and methods for making the article, are presented herein. The article comprises a substrate, an intermediate coating system disposed over the substrate, and a topcoat disposed over the intermediate coating system. The intermediate coating system comprises a separator layer comprising an oxygen getter material, and a barrier layer disposed over the separator layer, the barrier layer comprising a ceramic composition. The topcoat also comprises this ceramic composition. Moreover, at least about 50% by volume of the ceramic composition present in the barrier layer is a metastable precursor material that tends to transform over time into a product material. At least about 75% by volume of the ceramic composition present in the topcoat is the product material, and up to about 25% by volume of the ceramic composition present in the topcoat is the metastable precursor material.