CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
With Pepper Keenan on Down-time (sorry, couldn’t resist), the 1985 ‘Animosity’ line-up of Corrosion of Conformity have taken it upon themselves to put together an album. With two versions of Corrosion of Conformity in existence, comparisons are inevitable. The more commercially successful version, the Keenan-fronted band, is responsible for albums such as ‘Deliverance’ and ‘In The Arms of God’, whereas the three-piece on this record is responsible for a crossover classic that still stands tall almost thirty years later. Which, then, to compare this to?
The first three tracks are brimming with the band’s Black Sabbath influence and have a sound closer to the Keenan-fronted band but are no less impressive, the vehement ‘Leeches’ – with drummer Mullins giving an equally vehement vocal performance – standing out as one of the best tracks here. The instrumental ‘El Lamento de las Cabras’ is murky, swamp-like perhaps, and marks a point of transition as the album shifts into supercharger heaven for the next three tracks. Dean’s vocals on the slower ‘Newness’ have a Chris Cornell-quality to them that gives the song a 90s, grunge-via-Sabbath sound. ‘What We Become’ sees Mullins at the helm for vocals, his performance matched by his work on the skins. Of the last four tracks, ‘Rat City’ and closer ‘The Same Way’ (one of the two bonus tracks on the limited edition) are the best, the other two merely saying what’s already been said, however no less powerfully.
With little to prove, it’s the band’s own accomplishments that overshadow this album, but still ‘Corrosion of Conformity’ has more soul than most of the über-produced metal out there at the moment. CoC’s whole career can be heard here and so it’s both an album that indulges in one era of the band’s past and incorporates the band’s own history and development of the past thirty years. The band sounds very different to the Keenan line-up of course, and it’ll be interesting to hear what their next release with – or without – him will be like. Where ‘Animosity’ sat uncomfortably amongst its peers in 1985, so does this, and that’s what gives it its appeal. But whether this will keep us going until the next one appears is debatable…
The first three tracks are brimming with the band’s Black Sabbath influence and have a sound closer to the Keenan-fronted band but are no less impressive, the vehement ‘Leeches’ – with drummer Mullins giving an equally vehement vocal performance – standing out as one of the best tracks here. The instrumental ‘El Lamento de las Cabras’ is murky, swamp-like perhaps, and marks a point of transition as the album shifts into supercharger heaven for the next three tracks. Dean’s vocals on the slower ‘Newness’ have a Chris Cornell-quality to them that gives the song a 90s, grunge-via-Sabbath sound. ‘What We Become’ sees Mullins at the helm for vocals, his performance matched by his work on the skins. Of the last four tracks, ‘Rat City’ and closer ‘The Same Way’ (one of the two bonus tracks on the limited edition) are the best, the other two merely saying what’s already been said, however no less powerfully.
With little to prove, it’s the band’s own accomplishments that overshadow this album, but still ‘Corrosion of Conformity’ has more soul than most of the über-produced metal out there at the moment. CoC’s whole career can be heard here and so it’s both an album that indulges in one era of the band’s past and incorporates the band’s own history and development of the past thirty years. The band sounds very different to the Keenan line-up of course, and it’ll be interesting to hear what their next release with – or without – him will be like. Where ‘Animosity’ sat uncomfortably amongst its peers in 1985, so does this, and that’s what gives it its appeal. But whether this will keep us going until the next one appears is debatable…
LABEL:
FORMAT:
Candlelight Records
Album
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
Review by Jason Guest
RUNNING TIME:
43:56
RELEASE DATE:
27th Feb 2012
TRACK LISTING
1) Psychic Vampire
2) River of Stone
3) Leeches
4) El Lamento de las Cabras
5) Your Tomorrow
6) The Doom
7) The Moneychangers
8) Newness
9) What We Become
10) Rat City
11) Time of Trials
2) River of Stone
3) Leeches
4) El Lamento de las Cabras
5) Your Tomorrow
6) The Doom
7) The Moneychangers
8) Newness
9) What We Become
10) Rat City
11) Time of Trials
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
USA
"CoC’s whole career can be heard here and so it’s both an album that indulges in one era of the band’s past and incorporates the band’s own history and development of the past thirty years."
