Corrosion of Conformity and Crowbar: August 7, 2019

This has been a pretty busy week for concerts.  I went to shows on both Wednesday and Thursday.  And that could have been even more if not for my wife's sister's birthday on Saturday, otherwise I could have seen Decrepit Birth as well.

Wednesday's show was the better of the two as it was headlined by Corrosion of Conformity, a band of whom I have been a fan since I was just getting into metal.  It also featured the legendary Crowbar and a couple of opening acts.  The venue was The Slowdown, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in Omaha.  The fact that it keeps getting the best shows in the area certainly helps.

The opening act was a group called Lo-Pan from Columbus, Ohio.  Their sound made them fit in quite well with the two lead acts as they played a style of stoner metal/rock music.  The fact that the band is named after the villain in Big Trouble in Little China is just a big plus.  They had some catchy songs and a terrific vocalist.  That vocalist was the highlight of their show.  He had some massive lung support and had a very melodic, crooning style.  The drummer was also damn impressive.

The second band was called Quaker City Nighthawks.  They were more of a rock band and looked like throwbacks to Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The vocalist had long hair, a cowboy hat and rose-colored glasses.  They were decent, with a Southern rock style that called to mind a mix of Skynyrd, Johnny Cash and ZZ Top.  Not bad, but not my particular style.

Next up was Crowbar.  Now, my first exposure to Crowbar was Beavis and Butthead.  And for some reason I have never really gotten into them that much.  I enjoy their music quite a bit, but I have not often gone out of my way to pick up new albums.  But after their concert, that may change because holy shit did they put on a great show.  Kirk Windstein (who was involved in Down, still my favorite supergroup) complained that his voice was a little off, but with his vocal style, having throat issues just made it sound that much better.  They played a shockingly energetic set given their general downer style.  Crowbar was probably the highlight of the night.  And hey, I got to shake Windstein's hand after their set.

Next was Corrosion of Conformity.  Pepper Keenan returned to the band recently and the band returned to their Southern metal style from his tenure on their latest album.  The show was likewise primarily covering Keenan's time in the band instead of their earlier crossover/hardcore style.  I still believe that one of the greatest three-song openings to an album is the first three tracks off of Deliverance, and all three were represented in the concert, with "Clean My Wounds" being the encore selection.  In general the band played all of the songs I expected and even included "Vote with a Bullet", a highly underrated song from Blind, the Karl Agell record, though it features Keenan on vocals.  It was one of the more energetic and crowd-engaging concerts I have seen in awhile. 

Honestly, this is going to rate highly as a favorite concert this year.  Both Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity were on top of their games that night, and the songs sounded great.  I never considered skipping this concert even though I knew there was going to be another show I would attend the next day.  I'm damn glad I didn't because I missed C.O.C. a couple times recently.  And seeing them with Crowbar was just that much better because the two bands complement each other quite well.  This was a terrific show. 

Reunion Album of the Year

Corrosion of Conformity re-emerged from the ashes in 2012.  This time they reverted to the three-piece band that they were prior to Pepper Keenan's arrival.  Their sound reverted to more of a crossover style as well.  The band was reinvigorated.  This is easily their best album since Deliverance.

Best Metal EPs of 2012

3.  CORROSION OF CONFORMITY: MEGALODON
Following up on a surprisingly good reunion album, Corrosion of Conformity released an EP on Scion that was perhaps even better than the full-length.  There were a couple of vocal missteps, but for the most part this is exactly the kind of crossover stomp with which C.O.C. made their name.

2.  REVOCATION: TERATOGENESIS
Revocation is fast becoming one of the greatest modern thrash metal bands around.  Hot on the heels of their terrific album in 2011, which ranked #3 on my end of the year list, Revocation has released a great little EP on Scion.

1.  DOWN IV: THE PURPLE EP
I always anxiously await any new Down album.  They remain one of my favorite bands, and certainly my favorite side-project.  This album brought back some of the aggression and spirit of the band's first full-length album.  It is short yes, but extremely powerful.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 38

ARTIST:  Corrosion of Conformity
ORIGIN:  Raleigh, NC (United States)
TITLE:  Blind
LABEL:  Relativity Records
YEAR:  1991
GENRE:  Thrash/Heavy Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Dance of the Dead"
NOTES:  This is kind of an unusual album for Corrosion of Conformity.  It was a bridge between the band's more hardcore leanings of their early years and their sludge/southern metal sound.  This is much more of a thrash/heavy metal album and featured Karl Agell on vocals, with Pepper Keenan singing one song.  It was the first album for both Keenan and Agell.  This is an energetic and highly underrated album.

Corrosion of Conformity: Megalodon

Corrosion of Conformity did not waste much time following up their self-titled reunion album.  The band just this year released an album as a reformed trio made up of the three original members.  Pepper Keenan, quite possibly the driving force of the band over the previous fifteen years of the band's existence, is gone.  So the band's sound reverted to more of a sludgy hardcore, the sound that the band first rose to prominence with.

As I have previously mentioned Deliverance is where I got on board with Corrosion of Conformity.  As far as I am concerned, the band has never done better than that album before or since.  But I did enjoy some of their other work, including on their self-titled album released earlier this year.  So I did not really have any qualms about checking this one out.  Especially since it was free.

There are a couple of moments on this album where the band really does sound like Deliverance-era C.O.C.  "Feed On" and "The Megalodon" both really have that Southern metal swing to them.  The only thing missing on those tracks are the vocals of Keenan.  Not to say that the three members of C.O.C. (I honestly do not know enough about them to tell their vocals apart) are not fine vocalists, a couple of them anyway.  I just do not think they quite have the same charm.  Again, perhaps that is due to when I got into the band and I might have felt differently if I had gotten into them earlier.  Most of the songs on this EP would have fit in reasonably well on Deliverance, so I am definitely liking it, at least musically.  My only real complaint is with the vocals which do not grab me as much.

For a free EP, I am definitely not complaining.  This is a pretty good release from C.O.C. and is shockingly even better than the full-length from earlier.

Cataloguing My Metal Collection Pt. 13

ARTIST:  Corrosion of Conformity
ORIGIN:  Raleigh, NC (United States)
TITLE:  Deliverance
LABEL:  Columbia Records
YEAR:  1994
GENRE:  Southern Metal/Sludge Metal
FAVORITE SONG:  "Clean My Wounds"
NOTES:  Corrosion of Conformity frequently changes their sound, and this definitely stands out from anything the band had done previously.  Taking a Southern/sludge metal sound, this was quite a bit different than anything I had heard before.  But the results, including the tracks "Clean My Wounds" and "Alabatross" were incredible.  A great album.

Initial Impressions: Corrosion of Conformity: Corrosion of Conformity

When I was in my formative years as a metalhead, Corrosion of Conformity was one of the earlier bands that struck a chord with me.  This was in the early to mid 1990's and grunge was everywhere.  It was nice to find a decent heavy metal band once in awhile.  At the time, the band was forming a new identity.  They had previously been a crossover/thrash metal band, but they were developing into a sludge/southern metal band.  This was the Corrosion of Conformity I fell in love with.  I did check out some of their crossover material, but did not care as much for it as their 1990's style.  I should say that their Blind album was a favorite of mine as well, but to a lesser degree than Deliverance.  Unfortunately, I did not care as much for later albums.

This is Corrosion of Conformity's first album since 2005 and Pepper Keenan, who may have been the driving force behind the band's sound on Deliverance, does not appear on this album.  Instead, this is much more of a return to the band's roots.  Their style contains significant hardcore influences, which never really disappeared on their other styles, but were on the backburner.  There are still elements here and there of some of the other styles the band has flirted with in their long discography.

I found myself getting completely engrossed in this album.  I think the frequent stylistic changes really come across well.  Each song is different and interesting in its own way.  I found this to be the band's best album since Deliverance.  I still do not think it holds a candle to that album or its predecessor, but it is certainly better than anything that has come out since.

I enjoyed this album quite a bit and it is certainly a contender for the best reunion album this year.

My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 22: Corrosion of Conformity

I fully recognize that I am not familiar with all of C.O.C.'s vast catalog. Specifically, I have not heard much of their hardcore/crossover early days. The earliest album I own from the band is Blind when they were more of a thrash/power metal band. And then I have a couple of their albums from their Southern metal glory days. That is the Corrosion of Conformity I am referring to here. I got into the band in the early to mid 1990's when they were releasing songs like "Clean My Wounds" and "Albatross". It was an early band that I started to listen to. I wore out my first copy of Deliverance, that's how often I played it. For being an early metal band and doing Southern metal right, which is done so rarely, C.O.C. deserves their place on this list.

FAVORITE ALBUM: DELIVERANCE

Year in Metal: 1994

1994 was an important year for me in metal. Not because of the albums that were released, but rather that this was the year I started listening to metal.

ACID BATH: WHEN THE KITE STRING POPS
Acid Bath was an early pioneer in the sludge metal sound. Featuring members who would later comprise groups like Crowbar and Goatwhore, Acid Bath was ahead of its time. The band blended sounds from doom metal, hardcore, blues rock, black metal, death metal, and virtually anything else. This is a fantastic album with extremely strong dynamics and range. The band only released two full length albums, of which this is the debut.

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY: DELIVERANCE
Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C. from now on) has had many different sounds over the years. Beginning as a hardcore band and slowly incorporating more and more thrash and metal influences, the band changed a lot. This was a complete change however, with the band adding classic rock and southern influences into their more traditional metal sound. The band was one of the leaders in the New Orleans sound along with Crowbar and Eyehategod, and of course, the above Acid Bath.

IN FLAMES: LUNAR STRAIN
Here we go, the first sign of the Swedish melodeath scene in this series. This was In Flames's first album and at this time, they had a very different sound than what they have now. This was pure melodic death metal with occasional folksy interludes, such as a soft string section. The band was also different in that Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity fame was the band's lead vocalist instead of Anders Frieden, who was fronting Dark Tranquillity at this time. Weird.

MAYHEM: DE MYSTERIIS DOM SATHANAS
Mayhem's masterpiece is a dark and brooding album, perfect for this season. This album features Attila Csihar on vocals and his performance can best be described as manic and frightening. The album was the last to have guitarist Euronymous and bassist Varg Vikernes prior to Varg murdering Euronymous. For that reason alone, this album is far more infamous than it is famous. The music though is one of the best examples of the Norwegian black metal scene.

TESTAMENT: LOW
I kept wanting to get Testament on one of these things. Well the time has finally come. Testament was never really an elite thrash metal band, until this album, when they combined elements of groove and death metal with their thrash metal and Chuck Billy started growling far more often. This is when the band truly came into their own. This is a heavy and brutal album, far moreso than anything the band put out before it. This is the band's best album to this point, and it's not even really close.

Honorable Mentions: Black Sabbath: Cross Purposes, Cannibal Corpse: The Bleeding, Cryptopsy: Blasphemy Made Flesh, Dream Theater: Awake, Emperor: In the Nightside Eclipse, King's X: Dogman, Machine Head: Burn My Eyes, Megadeth: Youthanasia, Pantera: Far Beyond Driven, Queensryche: Promised Land.

Bands that formed in 1994: Abscess, Destroyer 666, Lacuna Coil, Six Feet Under, Strapping Young Lad, Symphony X.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 44: Corrosion of Conformity: Deliverance

What a great album this is. I remember that I was in eighth grade when I found this album. The local radio station had been playing "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds" quite a bit. The latter song was the real impetus for picking up the album. There's just something about the mix of heavy metal, southern rock, and hardcore. It's a unique sound that comes off extremely well. The songs are all incredibly powerful and catchy as hell.

This was one of the early albums in my metal collection. I still pull the tape out every once in awhile and I always think to myself "why do I not listen to this album more often?"

Corrosion of Conformity was an early band blending the aforementioned variety of styles. Bassist and vocalist Pepper Keenan is a massively influential figure in metal and served time in Down and was even offered the bassist position in Metallica at one point. Without Corrosion of Conformity, there would probably be no Mastodon, Baroness, or many of the other sludge metal bands that have achieved fame in the last few years. I still prefer C.O.C. though. This album is incredible.

Dusting Off a Cassette Pt. 27: Corrosion of Conformity: Blind

I thoroughly enjoy Corrosion of Conformity. I'm not totally sure when I first heard them or what the circumstances were, but I can probably make a fairly accurate guess. Back in middle school (the formative years of my metalhead status) there was a decent radio station called The Blaze. Technically, it still exists, but not in the same format. Back then, you could hear metal played at any time. Now, it focuses on modern rock, with a very occasional metal song. C.O.C. had released their masterpiece Deliverance and The Blaze played a couple of songs from it frequently.

This was the album that came out prior to Deliverance and is a completely different album. C.O.C. is a band that has gone through several stylistic changes. The band was originally a hardcore band, then slowly began incorporating thrash metal influences. Soon, much of the hardcore was gone. After that, the band drifted towards Southern metal/sludge metal. This has been the most consistent and well-known style for the band and mostly began taking place when Pepper Keenan joined the band and took up the major songwriting role.

This album marked the beginning of the Pepper Keenan era, but he was not yet the principal songwriter. Keenan also had not yet taken over vocal duties. Karl Agell, formerly of School of Violence, was the vocalist on this, his only full length recorded with C.O.C. Keenan does sing on one track, the explosive "Vote With a Bullet." Agell's voice is better suited to thrash metal, he has a clean vocal style but one that sounds like he is perpetually sneering.

Musically, this is the band's thrash metal album, the only album by the band that has ditched its hardcore roots. The songs are typically fast, melodic, and heavy. Of course there's some filler at the end of the album, but everything else is straightforward true heavy metal at its best.