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Westminster, Colorado
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Corrosion Of Conformity release self-titled album
by Tom Walsh
Posted on January 16, 2012
Corrosion Of Conformity
Expected Release February 28, 2012
Tracklist:
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
12. Canyon Man
13. The Same Way
Celebrated punk/thrash metal band Corrosion Of Conformity is releasing their first album since 2005’s ‘In The Arms Of God’ with a line up not seen since 1985’s ‘Animosity’. While most fans of the 90’s COC might not “get” this new album the diehard COC purists will revel in the fact that COC has taken a ‘step back’ from their more current albums and returned to their roots.
Listening to the three piece line up on Animosity is like witnessing the collision of metal and hardcore punk, and while the album may not have had spectacular sales it was the defining album for COC, and thrash metal at the time. Animosity was so full of aggression, speed, attitude and sheer rawness it made the early Metallica stuff look like a choir boy band in comparison. With the recording of their eighth studio album, simply called Corrosion Of Conformity, this North Carolina trio of rockers prove that you don’t necessarily mellow with age.
Corrosion Of Conformity didn’t really hit their stride in record sales until the 1991 release of Blind and then again with 1994’s Deliverance. Both of these albums saw COC move farther away from their punk/thrash roots and more into mainstream metal. Unfortunately for COC the bestselling albums are usually the ones that stand out, and are usually the ones that all other albums from the band are compared to. On the plus side the album ‘Corrosion Of Conformity’ does a good job at encompassing all eras of COC.
The new album starts out full steam ahead with Psychic Vampire which incorporates a good dose of speed and aggression coupled with the darker, sludge sound of COC past. Although COC was rumored to have ditched their Black Sabbath influenced sound on this album I find that it’s still undeniably a part of their overall sound. The stop/start of sludge metal to full on hardcore punk on this song is sometimes jarring and hits you like a punch to the gut. At first another thing I thought was missing on this album was their almost southern metal sound, but after listening to this song closely you can definitely hear that southern metal sound in the background lead guitar. Listen closely and you’ll hear it too. It actually mixes in nicely on this song.
Being that the album will not be released for a month I don’t want to give too much away, but I will mention other stand out tracks.
The six minute ‘River Of Stone’ does a great job at mixing doom metal and straight up heavy metal. The finished product comes out sounding like a cross between Motorhead and Helmut. While the song is great it drags on a little too long for me.
El Lamento De Las Cabras is a bluesy instrumental number that I really dig. The way the song is structured and played tends to take you away to another place. Layers of distorted guitar and bass with clean leads played over the top give this song a depth that you will not find on another track on this album. This song would be right at home on any violent or graphic Quentin Tarantino movie and really holds its own on this album. The only problem with this song is its length. Just when you find yourself letting loose and really getting into the album……silence. The song is over, and then it’s back to reality.
Rat City is a sloppy, punk sounding tune that can really get you going. More than any other song on this album Rat city seems to be the one that pulls no punches. The chorus is almost reminiscent of early Rolling Stones meets just about any early hardcore punk band. Weird mix right? Well, it works believe me.
For anyone that thinks there are no Black Sabbath influences on this album, just listen to The Doom. There is so much Black Sabbath at work here that most of the song, minus the sped up parts, could have been on side one of ‘Master Of Reality’. Listen to the bridge and lead on The Doom and tell me Black Sabbath is not at work here.
Like many other COC fans out there I couldn’t wait for this album to come out, but when I finally did get it I found that I couldn’t even listen to one song all the way through, and I was a little disappointed. Slowly but surely the album is growing on me. The more I listen, the more I appreciate the little nuances in each song that make that song what it is. There is no real flow to this album, nor is there any concept to be found, which honestly is much like COC themselves. There has never really been a rhyme, reason or cohesiveness to how, when and why they release albums that sound the way they do. They just wrote what they liked when it came to punk, metal and thrash…..period.
Most of the album goes back and forth between fast paced, old school punk rock and gloom and doom, low end sludge metal that’s sure to create more than a few mosh pits. It’s an interesting mix that has more of an old COC feel but doesn’t quite hit “it” on some songs. While most of the songs on this album may not make it into the regular rotation of songs I listen to, I definitely have my favorites on here that I will be listening to for a long time. Who knows it may grow on me even more as I’m sure Corrosion Of Conformity will grow on many others.
Bottom line: COC purists and old school fans will love this album from the get go. 90’s COC fans will have to listen to it a few times and let the album grow on them. Keep an open mind and rock out!
COC line up:
Mike Deen – Vocals, Bass
Woody Weatherman – Guitar
Reed Mullin – Drums, Vocals
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