Corrosion of Conformity

Corrosion of Conformity without Pepper Keenan is a rather strange thing, especially in 2012 when they built themselves up for more than 20 years with stoner metal tinged with bits of thrash and southern rock. The transition to a darker sound for them on here could be nice, however the band feels a little lost this time around on their self-titled full-length. Mike Dean has returned to vocal duties like from back in COC's punk days, but it seems like the band as a whole are interested in forging on with their sludge sound. In the Arms of God, their last album, was a big surprise and gave us a taste of some more diverse songwriting and a crunchy mixture of dark grooves and old-school riffs with some catchy vocal passages. This album wants to double down on the darkness presented on In the Arms of God, but it feels less developed song-wise and is missing Pepper Keenan’s fire-and-brimstone vocal delivery.

The style on here is less of a mixture of Metallica, Sabbath, and Skynyrd and more like a slightly thrashy rendition of Vitus. I say that since this has a murkier sound than before and it draws a picture of a world bathed in black and dark greys but it doesn't have the kind of color that makes an album have much fun or character. There are some decent grooves on here, but the songs are lacking in distinctiveness and personality. Part of this may have to do with Mike Dean having a much thinner vocal range and less force to his voice than Pepper Keenan. Even during choruses he does little to elicit excitement since he just doesn't have the strength or the presence. He's trying hard, but it's just not there. Another part of this lagging being may be from the fact that a lot of this much slower and more dread-filled riffing is only applied in a passable sense throughout the album and isn't terribly memorable. Even songs that stand out a little more like "Psychic Vampire" and "The Doom" don't hold half a candle to anything on In the Arms of God and many of these songs feel longer than they should with less energy put into them. I'm all for gloom and doom, but try to immerse and engage me, not just drag me down. The mood on this album is also very monotone with it varying between dreary and slow, and dreary with a bit of thrashing. Most decent COC albums have distinct grooves, emotional range, and intense vocal performances. The self-titled has (at best) middling forms of all of these.

I'm not impressed by this. The new, darker approach could have gone somewhere, but without their main frontman, Pepper Keenan, they lost a lot of energy and vocal power. The self-titled felt like a very same-same experience without much to offer. Sure some riffs were good and a solid level of gloom was maintained, but this album felt very dreary and without vigor or personality. I know that Pepper Keenan was more involved with Down at the time and needed to keep up with their touring, but this band also needed his energy back not just with his voice, but also maybe to give these songs a little more in the way of riffage and of mood. He contributed to songwriting on prior albums and made his mark felt in the rhythms. I could see some people tolerating this, but I'm just used to so much more life, mood, and action coming from Corrosion of Conformity.

I've been a huge fan of Corrosion of Conformity for over a decade now. That statement, of course, needs some clarification. In the days when CD burners and Napster were first becoming commonplace, I was in my freshman year of college. I obtained burned copies of Deliverance and Wiseblood, the band's seminal recordings in Southern-style sludge metal, and I LOVED them. I bought America's Volume Dealer on CD, and I actually liked it (though popular opinion is against the record). I got several tracks from Blind and Animosity off Napster, and didn't know what to think. I certainly didn't like them, so they were promptly deleted. Since then, I also enjoyed In the Arms of God a good deal.

I've never bothered to look back into their seminal crossover thrash records since the Napster days. (Yeah, the band has plenty of seminal recordings. Well, they're called COC, so what do you expect?) I don't know what I'd think of them if I heard them today. So when I heard COC had gotten the Animosity lineup back together to release a new album, I was skeptical. As reviews started coming out, I got to know the opinions of others who came to it with the same attitude, but had their minds changed. So, my skepticism gradually turned to ambivalence, and ambivalence to cautious optimism, and I decided to check it out.

The first track is the very promising "Psychic Vampire." It reveals a band that has neither returned to its 80's incarnation, nor remained in its 90's-00's phase. Instead, it's a synthesis of Southern sludge with crossover thrash, and one with some killer riffs. Mike Dean's vocals are much better than my decade-old memory of them; although he's still no Pepper Keenan, he's a hell of a lot better than Blind's Karl Agell. The remainder of the record stays in this style, sometimes going further to punk ("Leeches") and sometimes further to sludge ("Weaving Spiders Come Not Here"). They even throw in a Spanish-titled mellow instrumental. Indeed, it's fitting that the album is self-titled, and bears only a version of the band logo on the cover. In many ways it's a statement of everything the band has ever stood for, straight through to killer closing cut "Time of Trials."

I mentioned the amazing opener and closer, which stand up to the best tracks in the band's discography--short of "Clean My Wounds," of course, but on par with anything else. On the other hand, I could do without the rest of the record. Not that tracks 2 through 10 are bad, but there's nothing to write home about either. So I won't bother writing anything more about them.

Maybe it's not the songs, but a weakened lineup, being down (pun intended) to a three-piece. Maybe it's just the baggage I'm bringing into this. Then again, maybe the record will grow on me.

The Verdict: And so I move back from cautious optimism to ambivalence. There are two really excellent songs here, bookending a bunch of moderately good ones.

originally written for http://fullmetalattorney.blogspot.com/

Corrosion of Conformity were once flirting with the crossover eugenics at one time, way back when the band was just a trio of ravenous rockers. Many things have changed under their banner, but on the band's self-titled full-length record, we get the essential gist of what Corrosion of Conformity truly stands for. A pause of seven years since the great "In the Arms of God" and the absence of longtime vocalist Pepper Keenan does little to slow the band down here; the reunited trio of Mike Dean, Woody Weatherman, and Reed Mullin explode in a punkish exploitation of classic metal giving nods to every monumental album released in the thirty-year rampage of their signature in-your-face madness only Corrosion of Conformity could manufacture. Hell, this album is so unbelievably catchy and consistent that it may well be the magnum opus of this timeless band; it's my opinion that they've never looked so rejuvenated and fresh.

Corrosion of Conformity has a history of changing sounds quite dramatically throughout their extensive biography, but this puppy is a lot more well-rounded than most and not so extreme; in essence, it sounds like an amalgamation of almost everything they've done scattered in varying degrees. Of course, the biggest obstacle here was the transition from the southern/sludge sound the band had practiced since Pepper overtook the role as Corrosion of Conformity's vocalist, and there's a big shift from his gruff tone back to Mike Dean's tenor that suits the old-school punk/crossover coat of Corrosion of Conformity's early days and this album just fine. His ability to perform as a vocalist is really magnified compared to "Animosity" or other primordial efforts; it's almost surprising how good he sounds upfront and in your face.

How's the sound? Well, above and beyond the call of corrosion, that's for sure. A lot of folks were banking in on a hardcore/crossover-inspired juxtaposition like the squad's first few releases. It's not necessarily the base of the album, yet there's more than enough samples showing signs of a time long past through the hammering attitude of "Leeches" and haymakers circa 1984 on "Rat City." Anthems like "The Doom" and "Your Tomorrow" conjure an image of Sabbath sins lightly caressing the southern tints of "In the Arms of God" or "Wiseblood" to a mild yet noticeable extent; both are fantastic despite being a bit of a departure from the punchy tunes, and are probably the record's finest creations. They find appropriate unions between the southern/sludge approach and the sensational punk attitude on the busty "Psychic Vampire" and "The Moneychangers," two remarkably fun numbers. Enjoy having both in your head forever. All eleven tunes are unique and dazzlingly powerful, certainly one of the most consistent achievements Woody and crew have ever achieved.

In the end, "Corrosion of Conformity" isn't punk, crossover, sludge, southern rock, or heavy metal. No, this is Corrosion of Conformity, and they jerry-rig each sound in mechanical perfection. Overall, this release completely rules by any measure or scale, a true testament to the group's impeccable longevity and originality reaching a new prime over three decades after the conception of what would be Corrosion of Conformity. Here's a final thought: don't withdraw your investments because it's without a certain spice commonly found in restaurants. It connects so many sanguine facets that it really doesn't matter in the end, and "Corrosion of Conformity" lives up to its name. Kids, this is Corrosion of Conformity.

This review was written for: www.Thrashpit.com