Blind

The cool thing about the 90's was bands didn't have to all sound the same, as the metal influences brewed over the past 80's decade offered a wide selection to pick from and bands then were generally looking to develop their own sound rather than - conform (wink wink). That bred a host of pretty unique sounding crossover albums, and 'Blind' here is one of them. Sure this is the American South; thrashy, loud, distortion feedback laden rock n roll music with an emphasis on groove; but with notable characteristics there that help set this apart from the stereotype.

First of all the sections are genuinely inspired, with strong song-writing and infectious riffs as well as real lead vocal presence. There's lots of feeling to the guitar parts and to the charismatic soulful voice, as Karl Agell's passionate howling kicks this up a notch. The choruses are particularly memorable; especially on the earlier tracks; the crushing sludgy grooves heavy and ooze with hi-gain bluesy pentatonic energy. The songs all feel distinct with detailed guitar parts and tasty licks instead of being a bunch of Pantera copycat imitations. There's a healthy spontaneous and organic feel to the tracks and they flow with silky verve, exuding a wild euphoric feeling of freedom and reckless abandon. "Hell yeah", the listener thinks to themselves vibing to these tunes. The bass guitar breaks and stop/start guitar chugs during the verses bring the oomph and help pace the songs, building a crescendo on the way to the slick chorus.

Amidst the southern-tinged garage band jamming, the album does contain a few pleasant surprises. The most obvious one would be the excellent intro instrumental track 'These Shrouded Temples' and its powerfully dark aura and reverberating heaviness. 'Mine Are the Eyes of God' contains a most peculiar chorus mixing various different influences musically, practically bringing to mind an exotic middle-eastern mood. The single 'Vote With A Bullet' uses an odd flanger effect on the lead voice during the verse, and backed by fat punishing guitar syncopated chugs generates a strange yet fresh sequence adding to the eclectic textures on the album.

Being 13 tracks and over 50min long is definitely a bit on the overkill side for this sort of music which, despite its efforts to keep things interesting still is generally about one thing. The band had obviously found a groove and came up with a prolific amount of material and crammed it all into one album, but there's surely too much of it for its own good and as the listener it's difficult to keep the same enthusiasm after about the halfway mark. The tracks are still good after that point, but simply, it's too long and the momentum starts to stutter. It's perhaps a shame the band didn't opt to give the album a trim, fully focusing their efforts on fewer tracks rendering the album as a whole more digestible and punchy.

Annable Courts - http://antichristmagazine.com/review-corrosion-of-conformity-blind-relativity-records/

Blind is an album I've given far, far too many spins, even within a short period of time. It's about the only CoC album I listen to in full on a regular basis-- Pepper Keenan's southern metal venture doesn't exactly appeal to me, and I'm not always in the mood for thrashcore-- but this hits the perfect balance between the two, both timeless and yet inextricably linked with the time of its development. It stands very much in the general trend of 1991, in which many thrashier bands switched to a sound much more typical of "straight" heavy metal, with many more mid-tempo songs-- for example, I would not have trouble seeing the riffs of, say, "White Noise" on an album like Countdown to Extinction-- and a general shift away from mainstream approval of hardcore punk fusion, which is more than likely part of what caused the move away from metallic hardcore. For once, however, commercial intentions produced a better product than a worse one, as this is one of the crowning jewels of the year, if not the decade...

I imagine part of what brings such quality is the vocal talents of Karl Agell. His voice strikes a nice middle-ground between the low croon of Pepper Keenan and the more intense style of Mike Dean, melding thrash and alt-metal together; in this mix is a heavy dose of almost sorrowful wailing, a longing undertone that helps to add dimension to the aggression. In particular, it fits well on "Buried", an almost lamenting tale of mortality and the passage of time; it gives off the vision of someone stuck, out of their own volition, in the grip of forces beyond their control. A trick of multiple voices is used well throughout the track, creating an occult vibe of some ethereal voice...

This carries through into the guitar tone and production; it's drenched in reverb, creating a sound with an almost "roomy" feel. Tracks like "Break The Circle" carry an echo that holds up the moaning despair. The low-end holds nicely, with a bass that's audible but not overly prominent, settling comfortably under the middle-speed groove. While there are some outright thrashers-- Damned for All Time, in particular-- Blind fits well within the niche of its slower playing, a confident stride that rolls over riffs without trouble.

Lyrically, the album continues to take the position of entrapment, one of being "stuck", frustrated and sorrowful underneath the wiles of a system that seems almost oppressive. The political bent wavers in and out, as "Break the Circle", "Buried", and "Painted Smiling Face" trade out direct ethical statements for matters of intense fear; the unassailable momentum of humanity towards the cold embrace of the grave, and the terrifying anxiety that such an inevitability hangs over life. "Mine Are The Eyes of God" uses metaphors of religion to present an intensely critical viewpoint of Western "policing" of the world, while "Vote With A Bullet" and "Dance Of The Dead" show violent, hateful intent towards the domestic system.

All of this is carried by a series of powerfully well-designed riffs, whether it's the bright and bouncy energy of "Damned For All Time", the stilted pounding of "Great Purification", the ever-so-slightly-Middle Eastern-tinged dance of "Mine Are The Eyes of God", or the Southern wail of "Buried", Blind is built on a foundation of loud, overwhelming, unrelenting waves of pure riffage, without compromising its truly '90s statement of grunge-esque speed.

Out of the album's stellar set of Agell tracks stand a few oddballs, one of which would certainly provide some foreshadowing for the later Corrosion of Conformity releases; "Vote With A Bullet", "These Shrouded Temples", and "Shallow Ground"; "Shrouded" serves as the album's apparent opener, a psyche-up track that provides a slightly occult-tinged entrance to prepare listeners for the lyrical and musical themes to follow, while "Shallow" acts as a melodic interlude after six straight tracks of riffing intensity, directly preceding "Vote With A Bullet". "Vote" stands out most heavily for the fact that Pepper is its vocalist; Karl takes a back seat, providing what could be considered the climax of the album's political, revolution-inspiring momentum, before it settles down and lets "Great Purification", "White Noise", and "Echoes in the Well" take out the rest of Blind's energy.

It starts out in a rather unassuming fashion, with a quick build-up and a rather thrash-y opening giving an immediately less interesting package (as well as its rather odd cover art of paper dolls) that keeps hidden inside a shining romp of mid-tempo alternative metal. Even at its end, the consistent riff-crafting of the Pepper/Woody guitar team, its mix of more traditional thrash and the ideas of early-90s Metallica and Megadeth, and the shift away from straight metalcore allows for Corrosion of Conformity's transitioning album to hold up well in the long run, presenting a front of great, well-rounded metal. An absolute recommendation to any metalhead worth their salt, fan of CoC or not.

Blind is in many ways the Corrosion Of Conformity album that showcased their full on transition from punk to metal. It also serves as an interesting, thrashy missing link between the crossover thrash of Animosity and the Technocracy EP; and the sludgy stoner/groove metal of Deliverance and Wiseblood and beyond. It works extremely well, combining the core elements of thrash, doom, punk, and groove metal into a diverse, yet consistent record.

The core instrumentation and writing of the album is done with the utmost skill and ability. Woody Weatherman makes tight usage of distortion and riffage to push the guitar's sounds of sludginess, agility, catchiness, and gloom to new heights. The bass is certainly audible and easy to hear. It compliments the guitar work nicely and even has a few moments where it stands out among the instruments. Reed Mullin's drumming consists of a diverse and flavorful array of thrash drumming, grooves, and breaks across the songs, giving them a critical part of their sound to set apart the slow sludge tracks, the mid-paced groovers, and the fast thrash songs. Now, Karl Agell's voice certainly isn't as good as Pepper Keenan's since he lacks the range, depth, and machismo that Keenan has in spades. He sounds like a throwaway thrash metal vocalist. Though the songs are written well enough and he himself has a few golden moments so it somewhat makes up for that. All in all the instrumentation and performance is done extremely well, even Agell.

The album starts out with the anthemic instrumental These Shrouded Temples... which harkens back to and emulates to the song Black Sabbath with it's ominous downtuning, use of the Devil's tritone, and grave atmosphere. Dance Of The Dead is a great thrasher that kicks the album off and works as a great standout song. Buried has a sliding, muddy groove to it and is fun to listen to. Ditto for Break the Circle and Painted Smiling Faces. Mine Are The Eyes Of God is the only stinker on this album due to the annoying chorus. Shallow Ground is an awesome, mellow tune that is warm and relaxing, ending with an alarming tape rewinding sound that leads into the big scarer on this album, Vote With A Bullet. Pepper Keenan's vocals exceed Agell's here and provide the threatening voice to compliment the militant message and destructive guitar work. Groover Great Purification and thrasher White Noise build off of Vote With A Bullet's momentum and political vitriol and compliment the song perfectly with societal lyrics and a mixture of gloomy and punchy riffs. The final full song, Echoes In The Well is a gloomy, bleak track that shows off the doomy desperation of the album extremely well and clears the album for the finisher from These Shrouded Temples..., Remain... which ends the album on a gloomy and skillful note.

The bonus tracks are also worth something if you get the rerelease. Condition A/Condition B is a transition from the main album to the bonus tracks. The MC5 cover Future Now is a good enough listen though not as standout as the main album. And Jim Bean And The Coon Ass is clearly not metal, but still a foot-tapping blues wailer that's not even racist like you'd think it would be and plenty of fun.

The songs have stuck with me for quite a long time. The writing is brilliant for both the lyrics and instruments. The songs have crunch, catch, grime, and tact as qualities. It has consistency and diversity rolled up into one, big , delicious, metal burrito that works perfectly and is just so damn tasty. It's a molotov cocktail of styles ready to take on the system and fight authority. It's amazing just how Corrosion can ignore genre rules and put out a high quality Record such as this. It's the first metal CD I bought of my own volition and has remained a favorite of mine since.

Its not often that a wide array of musical styles can come together so well. If such an album is not well written, these styles have a tendency to clash and make the whole album tank awfully fast. One could suggest that is exactly where Sepultura's Roots went horribly wrong, among other things. Corrosion of Conformity isn't really a band many people look to for such blending, but they pulled off it quite well in 1991.

Corrosion of Conformity is a band I've took a liking some time ago and quite honestly are one of the more underrated bands from my home state. The reason for this is not so much that they didn't have any successful singles (such as "Clean My Wounds") but by what standards C.O.C.'s best moments are measured. Most would look to "Deliverance" as this band's best moment, or maybe even the worthy "Wiseblood" which comes as a close second. I personally say "Blind" takes the cake here, for reasons I'll discuss below.

On this album, C.O.C. dropped a good deal of their hardcore sound for more that was more accessible, throwing in a little thrash to create something known as crossover. On top of that, you also get dashes of doom metal and Southern rock, particularly bands like Molly Hatchet or maybe the Four Horsemen (the band, not the apocalyptic figures.) What results is an album of fine songwriting and genre mixing, one that I find hard to pass up.

The vocalist here is Karl Agell, who I personally prefer to Pepper Keenan in most respects. For one, I believe he is more of a professional singer and able to carry the music better, but this is just my opinion. He doesn't carry a particularly impressive range, reminding me a little bit of James Hetfield or maybe Phil Anselmo, as someone else already mentioned. Still, his voice is perfectly at home in the music and he always carries himself well.

The instances of pure Southern influenced rock are evident in songs like "Dance of the Dead," which is one of the better songs to be found. The thrashier influences come into play on "White Noise" and "Damned for all Time," the latter of which is pretty damn aggressive. During this time of toning down aggression in alot of thrash bands, its good to hear material like this.

There is also a hint of post-thrash going on in "Great Purification" and it works considerably well given the stagnated tendencies of the groove metal genre. The song "Buried" is one of my favorites, and throws in some doom metal influences on top of some harder rocking tendencies. Its also one of the heaviest songs here alongside "Damned for all Time," albeit at a slower tempo.

Even at their heaviest, this album still takes time to weave in some catchier, more user friendly moments. This is still a pretty accessible album, as is alot of crossover metal. It remains my favorite C.O.C. album, surpassing earlier material through maturity and is superior to their later material through the songwriting choices. The only album that comes close would be "Wiseblood" but I'd argue this album is still better based on sheer quality music and riffage. Not only is this album superior to other C.O.C. efforts, it also trumps the nonsense known as grunge that was swiftly taking over at the time. I rank "Blind" very highly and is one of the better albums of the early 1990's here in America.

1991 was the beginning of a whole new decade of possibilities for metal in general. As far as everyone was concerned thrash metal was still riding it pretty swell and had not yet experienced the complete disintegration of a wonderful genre that would be felt within the next 2 to 3 years. Outside the big four who were at that time still putting out material that still mattered, there really didn't seem to be anyone outside of those 4 that could match the progression. Or was there???

Corrosion of Conformity had actually kind of ridden along side of the big 4 safely by going from total hardcore punk to total crossover thrash where they could easily make social commentary and not be stuck with the fallout of the classic Hardcore Punk years of '81-'85. So they were still able to essentially use their socio-political punk lyrics but also be able to survive by getting kudos from the Metal genre. Not to mention they had an advantage to themselves; they were southern and they even rented out their own club in Raleigh, NC to bring in other well-known acts from various scenes (Black Flag, Saint Vitus, Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Brains, etc.) so that wherever they went, they wouldn't have to worry about anything. C.O.C. seem to have their cards laid out perfectly and they raked in the good with their 1991 album “Blind”.

“Blind” not only features the on-going continuing saga of revolving band members(exit COC’s punk main man Mike Dean) but also the introduction of future COC singer and guitarist Pepper Keenan and the only-time studio output from the amazing Karl Agell. We’ll get back to the performers later on. Also they got signed to Columbia shortly before this album which was probably due to word-of-mouth and their cult following. If their first two albums proved they could be as fast and heavy as the majority as the bands around them “Blind” proved that they could go their own path without worrying about flak from whatever scene they were from or got kudos from. The sound production is a definite boost for COC’s sound giving it that extra ‘umph’ behind everything. For once you can hear Reed Mullin’s powerful backbone drumming and also the guitars by Woody Weatherman and Pepper Kennan. Bassist Mike Dean aint here which is a bit of a let down considering what he might have contributed to this already amazing album, but the unknown Phil Swisher doesn’t do anything outside of the ordinary. But for stand-out performance is none other than the new singer Karl Agell. When he sings, man he hits not only the notes but FEELING of the songs as well. Overall a round of applause for these southern boys.

The song here have something that lacked in the past COC releases: variety. And yeah I enjoy the hell out of “Animosity” and “Technocracy”, but the songs presented on “Blind” tends to blow those albums out of the water. Right from the very opening of “These Temples Shrouded…”; an intro that is a wall of doom guitar feedback and distortion to the even more darker outro "Remain" are songs that will have you thrashing, boogying-down, raising a fist or two, and just plain good old headbanging. First song and probably most underrated COC song “Damned For All Time” is the proper way to open as the first actual song. And does it have riffs. If you want the link between COC’s past and what they are now, this song is it if not the entire album. Thrash metal with hardcore back-up gang vocals and very political lyrics. I double dare you to not want to circle-pit to this. The next song is just fun. “Dance of The Dead” is just a downright southern rock ‘n rolling boogying song with some hard Metal leanings and bouncy riffs. The way Karl Agell shouts “…you're dead, you're dead, you're dead” in the song drives it home even further. ‘Buried” is where we find more Sabbath “Master of Reality”-era worship. “Painted Smiling Face” has a killer chainsaw charging Slayer-esque riff that gives way to one of the more tech/progressive whatever the hell it is song. They are switching tempos and styles it will give you dizzy spells. “Vote With A Bullet” could be easily the anthem song to the IRA. A hard-hitting pounding song about the electoral process in the U.S.A. where sometimes democracy isn't really heard or proven. But the best part is the catchy-as-hell main riff and chorus with the rebellious “…forgive and forget, fuck no I'm talking about a revolution!” Here we see Pepper Keenan provide back-up vocals and singing duties which he shines through with his chords being sung through a voice box. More molten Metal can be heard on “Great Purification” and did I mention the song “White Noise”? It opens with a Megadeth-ish buzz-saw groovy riff that tackles the touchy subject of black racism in the south. It’s a bold move to show not everyone from the south is a redneck(see Pantera for failing on this part). “Echoes In The Well” is a moody-sounding track that would have any Alice In Chains/Soundgarden fan salivating. For most of the album….COC show you real angst and deals with real issues that a lot of other bands in 1991 weren’t showing or talking about.

It’s a bit hard exposing someone to COC if they aren’t familiar with them. I know when I first decided to sit down and give them a chance a few years back, it was hard to decided where to start. But the one that kept popping-up with their 1991 opus “Blind” and still does. It makes the rest of their discography make perfect sense through the various sounds and members. If you are going to have one COC album, pick-up “Blind” today.

The whole concept of crossover is basically a middle ground between hard core and thrash metal, which has yielded some pretty interesting albums in a fairly simpler and slower version of the latter style in its purer form. But for Corrosion Of Conformity, the term itself applies in a more general sense, as the band seems to be crossing over into a larger variety of styles than most, particularly in the case of their early 90s offering and arguably their strongest offering “Blind“. The punk influences are obviously still in place, though they’ve been augmented with a good helping of Southern rock, doom metal and groove/thrash influences. What ends up emerging is a harder hitting and more interesting variation on the whole idea of half-thrash, a concept which was starting to pick up steam at this point and time.

The principle differences that this album has with it’s two more hard core oriented predecessors is a longer and more varied approach to songwriting meshed with a much more accessible presentation. The principle source of the latter is Karl Agell’s vocals, who essentially listens like a hybrid of John Bush and Chuck Billy, with perhaps a tinge of Southern grit ala Phil Anselmo, at least during the “Cowboys From Hell” era. He doesn’t have quite the high range that either of the 3 aforementioned singers did during their respective heydays in the 80s, but he gets up there from time to time and sound far better than Anselmo’s post-1991 material or anything that Robb Flynn has ever committed to recordings while behind the microphone. Put together with a sludgy doom atmosphere and some nice slowed down but cutting edge thrash tinge to the guitar attack, and you have a lethal though mostly mid-tempo machine to be reckoned with.

From the opening of the overture instrumental “These Shrouded Temples…” the masterful blurring of genre lines immediately becomes apparent. Essentially things just fade in with a darkened atmosphere, with a chorus of guitar feedback that sounds like an orchestra tuning before a concern, which is followed by a gloomy as hell Sabbath meets Candlemass clean guitar theme, which is then surrounded by a two guitar harmony that almost invokes images of Molly Hatchet. Afterward the whole arrangement just sort of settles into a slow, march-like thrash number that sounds almost like a cross between Megadeth circa “So Far, So Good, So What?” and Slayer’s “South Of Heaven”. When the intro comes to an end, “Damned For All Time” comes thudding in like a colossal golem of steel. The first principle riff screams New York Thrash in the vain of Anthrax and Overkill like crazy, while the bridge riff has a definite rock feel to it.

As the album unfolds, a number of constant characteristics to the sound emerge to contrast with an alternating approach to style. The most obvious being that the lead guitar work definitely sticks to an older rock approach, drawing influences from various 70s outfits from Deep Purple to 38 Special. This is present not only in the reserved and non-structured nature of the lead slots, but also in the mellower guitar tone employed, which contrasts heavily with the crunchy as hell Thrash affect in the rhythm guitar sound. Songs such as “Dance Of The Dead” and “Painted Smiling Faces” are exceptional examples of this dichotomy of sound, though it should be noted that both of these songs also contain a large number of Southern Rock and Black Sabbath influences than most of the other individual works on here. The latter of these two actually reminds me a lot of “The Wizard” during the verses, and the principle riff has a heavy dose of “Vol. 4” commonalities.

For all of its multifaceted elements, this is a very consistent listen, and choosing a favorite song boils down more to whether you like more thrash or more doom in your metal. As I tend to go a little bit more in a Thrash direction, the strongest work is a tossup between “Damned For All Time” and “White Noise”. Both essentially mix fast, bone crushing riffing with slower rock sensibilities with a nice even hand, all the while sparing not on iota of attitude. But if you like your Metal with a lot of sludge and Southern goodness, served up with a little bit of a Pantera edge, “Great Purification” is definitely a solid groovy slab of sonic goodness.

Though fans of crossover will definitely tilt towards “Eye For An Eye” and “Animosity”, this is the best that CoC has to offer in terms of an all around great album. It’s a superior listen to anything that Machine Head or Anthrax would ever put out in the post-thrash period of the early 90s, and rivals “Cowboys From Hell” in terms of quality groove infused thrash metal. This is real angst, the kind of which the likes that frequented the body odor infested concerts in Seattle would never be able to comprehend, let alone hope to emulate.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on April 8, 2009.

Now this was a pleasant surprise from COC before they slipped into silly Southern rock admiration. They still maintained their hardcore roots lyrically and musically the metal side of things began dominating more. This was not a bad thing on this album, though, because the metal influence was more the sludgy doom feel.

There is some more melody present in the vocal realm courtesy of Karl Agell (who also put on a great show live when I saw them on this tour) and his slightly more refined vocal approach, and there is an abundance of catchy riffing. Agell really lets go on this album with equal parts soul and rage vying for your attention and his performance makes this album very listenable. The soloing from Pepper Keenan and band mainstay Woody Weatherman is bluesy and soulful, especially on "Dance of the Dead", with thick, squealing notes pelting you in measured doses with molasses-sweet tone courtesy of producer John Custer, who did a great job engineering a clear and not overly produced sound on this album. The bass, as always, is not terribly audible and doesn't add much to the sound. Reed Mullin's drumming is spot on and the production highlights his precise and grooving style nicely.

The lyrics, as I mentioned, still maintain a political/social angle--how can you not mistake the sentiments of the opening lines of (again) "Dance of the Dead": "Heard too much, know too much, don't know if I can take it/If the system had one neck, you know I'd gladly break it!" Also, the sentiments addressing racism, slavery, and overall oppression in "White Noise" (they are from the South, after all) are pretty pointed too culminating in Karl's irate bellow of "WHEN NOBODY SAID ANYTHING!!!" ending the song.

The music is much slower and more structured than before and is heavy, very heavy indeed. Their Black Sabbath influence comes out and how on this album, with monstrous riffs and groaning leads over nimble drumming by Reed making a glorious noise. In fact, I'd go as far as to say this is COC at their apex musically. It still has a uniquely Southern swing to it as well, without being Southern rock or anything like it. It is equal parts sassy, brassy, doomy, bluesy, and powerful overall.

I'd much rather listen to this and call it COC's swan song before they descended into the depths of commercial garbage, honestly. This was their last attempt at acknowledging their punk/hardcore past before they discarded that altogether in a bid for commercial success, and for my money is when they stopped being Corrosion Of Conformity and became a bloated Southern rock wannabe band. Pepper took over and ruined their sound completely after this as well as taking over vocals, and anyhting after this I disregard as anything resembling Corrosion Of Conformity.

Corrosion of Conformity have had a fairly unusual career..... from their inception as a hardcore punk band in 83', C.O.C. have played everything from thrash (Animosity) to southern rawk (Wiseblood). Blind was their American breakthrough, and first record with future spearhead and guitarist Pepper Keenan. Stylistically, it lands somewhere between the southern grooves that would later emerge on Deliverance (Keenan's influence no doubt), and Animosity's thrash oriented riffage.

Karl Agell's vocals are pretty much identical to Pepper's (maybe less crooning..) so fans of latter day CoC won't find Blind too difficult to stomach. The best songs (Damned For All Time, Dance of the Dead..) are thrash tinged straight up metal affairs that also happen to have killer vocal hooks. As alluded to in this review's title, all lyrics are more or less politically based. This is ultimately annoying, because in all honesty who gives a shit about the band's political beliefs. I sure don't.

The groove oriented riffs show up in songs like Buried and Vote With a Bullet (keenan's sole vocal performance), both standout tracks along with the afforementioned Dance of the Dead and Damned for all time. I still pull this CD out every now and then but in terms of killer to filler ratio Deliverance is better.