CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - "Blind"

Artist:  Corrosion Of Conformity

Album: Blind

Year:  1991

Genre:  Metal

The early 90's saw Corrosion Of Conformity pull an immense switcheroo on their fan base.  The stalwart crossover, hardcore punk unit took their slightly hinted at Black Sabbath influence and ran with it full bore.  C.O.C. reappeared in 1991 with new blood in the band, major label backing, and an unforeseen, crushing metal album titled, "Blind."  Gone was the reckless abandon and blurring speed that filled their 1984 debut LP Eye For An Eye, their iconic 1985 release Animosity, and the rather lackluster 1987 release, Technocracy.  Yet, C.O.C. showed they were more than capable of harnessing their ferocious hardcore roots to channel them into heavy metal.

The annals of punk and hardcore history are riddled with examples of bands making a well-intended leap into the metal world.  In many cases, this shift caused bands to lose their core audience while failing to garner the acceptance they expected from their experimentation with the new genre.  This was not the case for C.O.C., and their popularity grew.  Why did it work for them?  The simple answer is musicianship.  The musical talent level of C.O.C. wasn't easily charted in their early days, but was glaringly obvious on Blind.

The album bulldozes in an unrelenting riff-after-riff style as the "blown out board" production abuses the senses.  This record is raw and very heavy and every song is a strong composition from front to back.  Each member sounds as if they are attacking their instruments, and are skillful at playing technically without losing the heightened level of intensity.  The pace of Blind lands somewhere in between Metallica's "Four Horsemen" and Sabbath's "War Pigs," as the band pushes and pulls the songs with accuracy and effectiveness.  The addition of  vocalist Karl Agell, formerly of of thrashers School Of Violence, seems to give a welcomed freedom to the guitar players and the rhythm section to create a dynamic foundation to back his forceful and confident voice.  The one aspect C.O.C. held on to from their formative punk era was the sociopolitical lyric content which questions and confronts the government, authority, religion, and racism, while calling out for a revolutionary solution.  These words are monumentally more powerful than the typical metal lyric content and delineates the band's conviction.  After this album, C.O.C. fell swiftly down the southern metal rabbit hole for more than a decade.  Those records, and even their more recent return to hardcore sound, have not resonated with me like the unrefined and brutish nature of Blind.  This record is bulletproof and I couldn't recommend it more.

Listen to "Damned For All Time" here.