06/06/05

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY / IN THE ARMS OF GOD

It’s been a long time since "American Volume Dealer" came out in 2000, Nu Metal has come and gone and COC have had a lot of time to re direct themselves and they have gone back to go forward, back to the Classic Rock sound that is now part of Metal history.

Right form the first track "Stone Breaker" you get the feeling you’ve heard this before, with parts of tracks reminding you of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd, the 2^nd track "Paranoid Opioid" lead riff is very similar to part of a Black Sabbath track "Hole In The Sky" but not quite the same. The reason is because they have gone back to the roots of Rock, the Blues and all of the previous mentioned bands were heavily inspired by the Blues so its no surprise that there is similarity and the Blues is the universal language of Music.

There is no doubt in my mind that this is better album than Wiseblood and even "Deliverance" and both of those are considered definitive COC albums, this CD has class written write through it like Blackpool rock, the songs are sung with such power and conviction you cant help but admire Pepper Keenan and the rest of the guys for putting out such a cohesive and enjoyable CD.

Best tracks, "Stone Breaker", "In The Arms Of God", "Paranoid Opioid" and the 8 minute epic "Never Turns To More" that starts off with phasing, when was the last time you heard that on a record this side of a Hawkwind CD. Classic Rock indeed, one for my best of 2005 and to think I nearly didn’t buy this because the only track I had heard was "Rise River Rise" which is a slow acoustic number, good but not representative of the CD, don’t miss out.

TOTAL PLAYING TIME = 64 mins + 12 TRACKS