Hard 20 |
Corrosion of Conformity"In The Arms Of God" These legendary metal/hardcore crossover pioneers return to kick the world in the ass once again! COC have been going at it for almost two and a half decades, and have been very influential, but also very underrated, never rising beyond cult status, despite being nominated for a Grammy, touring with big name bands like Metallica, and getting a thumbs-up from Beavis and Butthead, although COC does maintain a very dedicated underground fan base. The band continues in their trademark style on this new offering, which could be described as Black Sabbath meets Black Flag. They straddle the line between the funeral march and the mosh pit, and they do so very well. Some songs crawl along like an army tank, while others whiz at high speed like a jet fighter, and some are somewhere in between, but they all kick ass! They all have fuzztone guitar, chunky riffs, a pounding beat, stripped to the bone production, and vocalist/guitarist Pepper Keenan singing aggressively and wailing in despair about a world gone mad, sometimes lashing out in anger against the ills of society and authority, as COC always has done. While most of these songs are classic COC rockers, they venture into unplugged territory on a couple of tracks, those being "Rise River Rise" and the short "Crown Of Thorns", both of which has some folk influence, while the former still has some electric playing in it. While these songs go in a different direction musically, they are no less intense than any of the others on the album. Intensity is certainly the name of the game for COC. Always has been, always will be. When they began, they were one of the first bands to experiment with melding elements of punk, hardcore, and metal, pushing the envelope in a new direction. They built a staunch following based on their music and always played their trademark style of kick ass, aggressive rock and roll, never caring about what the flavor of the month happened to be. This album is no exception. They keep it as real as ever, and show no signs of losing their edge or impact, even after having almost twenty five years under their belts. No doubt fans will still be moshing to their music in another twenty five years! |
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