Corrosion of Conformity - In the Arms of God By Travis Becker

Corrosion of Conformity - In the Arms of God 
Label: Sanctuary Records
Rating: 

Corrosion of Conformity, the very name suggests the intensity with which the band of that name has hacked and slashed their musical path over the years.  From their days as a politically super-charged Hardcore band meandering into thrash on occasion, to the swampy cypress tree-shaded sludge churned out by the band’s current incarnation, COC has never been afraid to go as far as all the anger and down tuned guitars in the world would take them.  A section of their hardcore fans may have doubted the above statement after 2000’s ultra polished, “Americas Volume Dealer”, but COC elite, have no fear!  The band has returned in 2005 with a new drummer, a new record and a new batch of songs that pummel their output of the last ten years unmercifully.  “In the Arms of God” is a dump truck full of red hot magma and COC is backing it up to your front door, shovels in hand.

The first aspect of the new album to wrap itself around the listener, like a member of Motley Crue in a sports car around a telephone pole, is the album’s production, which is at once much more sparse, and at the same time entirely more satisfying than that on AVD. The polish has been worn ragged by a sandstorm of blistering guitar and scouring vocals.  The sound of the album is more akin to “Blind” than any of the band’s more recent output, but the songs are solidly modern COC, grinding along like pyramid stones crushing peasant workers in ancient Egypt.  The opening brick in the wall, “Stone Breaker”, is classic COC with a monster riff and an enthusiastic yet medicated vocal performance by Pepper Keenan. 

 “Paranoid Opioid” is something of departure, mixing Heavy Metal fury with progressive elements that recall Voivod or something weirder.  “It is That Way” is a standout track, perfectly blending the dirge-like qualities COC have gravitated towards in recent years with a hook that would snag a blue marlin through the eye.  Throughout, Woody Weatherman shows why he’s been doing this for over twenty years and Mike Dean as usual is the rock on bass.  The listener is even treated to a Mike Dean vocal for the first time in many years on “Infinite War.” 

A little bit of lag hangs onto the middle of the record, but the closing combination of “Crown of Thorns” and the title track more than compensate.  “In the Arms of God” is probably the most epic style song that COC have ever cranked out and leaves the feeling that this band can do absolutely anything it wants to.

It’s cliché to call an album a return to form, but “In the Arms of God” is nothing short of a return to form and a journey beyond.  By the end of “In the Arms of God” you’re left wanting more and wishing the journey hadn’t found its end.  This album will, no doubt, end up being compared to “Blind” because it’s probably the best recording the band has done since then, but what they have really achieved is to have blended the best elements of “Blind” and “Deliverance” and wrapped them around the solid songwriting that the band finally locked onto with AVD. 

“In the Arms of God” has all the doom-laden stoner grind that the band has been honing for the last decade and all of the anger and crazed energy the band thrived on in their heyday.  A release like this makes it all the more lamentable that it takes the band five years to get an album out.  All one can do is mark the calendar for the next Down album that should be due around 2009 and then hopefully another COC album as good as this in 2010.  Worth the wait?  You betcha.

Don't miss Zane's review of COC live in Arizona for their headlining gig on March 30th!
 

Tracks: Stone Breaker Paranoid Opioid It Is That Way Dirty Hands Empty Pockets (Already Gone) Rise River Rise Never Turns To More Infinite War So Much Left Behind Backslider, The World On Fire Crown Of Thorns In The Arms Of God

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