Corrosion of Conformity
Good God / Baad Man
**** out of *****
The eleventh studio effort from the southern hard rock/metal outfit Corrosion of Conformity arrives eight years after 2018's No Cross No Crown, and sees the band's lineup shift once again. Even with new members and an extended, double album run time, Good God / Baad Man is one of the strongest CoC albums of the groups career.
Joining Pepper Keenan – vocals, rhythm guitar and Woody Weatherman – lead guitar are Bobby Landgraf – bass and the returning Stanton Moore – drums, who hadn't recorded with the band since 2005's In The Arms of God. Whether it is Moore's return, the groups extended break or something else entirely, the outfit is revved up from the start, opening with the potent "Good God? / Final Dawn". While Kennan's vocals are a bit buried under the maelstrom, the grooving low end and big solos announce the band's triumphant return.
"You or Me" sums up the album as a whole. The chunky riffs and screaming solos are wonderful around heavy bass/drum work before an odd mid song break with feedback, before things return with shotgun blasts, screams and punk rock power. While there are two songs in one, and things are perhaps a little overblown/drawn out it still delivers the hard rock goods. A little editing might have tightened the full album (and this track) but CoC just want to deliver everything they can this go around.
The aggression and more upfront vocals help the crushing "Gimme Some Moore" with guests Al Jourgensen and Monte Pittman joining the metal party, the tune has a touch of Motörhead flowing throughout while the swirling rumbling thunderstorm of "The Handler" is stoner rock, heavy goodness.
CoC use frequent samples to shift the ear and perhaps it is the return of Moore, but things get funky on the head bopping, get down rock of "Baad Man" and synth intro, heavy grooving "Lose Yourself", both of which switch up the core sound in positive fashion. More samples serve to introduce "Handcuff County" which is robust southern blues rock that struts with a classic rock confidence.
On most double albums there will be some filler ("Bedouin's Hand") and things do fade at the end with the jaded/dull blues rock of "Swallowing the Anchor" and the tired stripped down "Brickman" feeling extraneous to the album. However, when the quartet are locked in, such as on the fast and rumbling "Asleep on the Killing Floor", the slow, cinematic, marching blues rock of the Black Sabbath leaning "Ruin Your Life" and the stoner rock album closing "Forever Amplified" (with backing vocals from Anjelika "Jelly" Joseph), things are truly top notch.
The willingness to switch up sounds and evolve, while still keeping a heavy core, marks a successful offering from Corrosion of Conformity, who almost 40 years into existence, still put out engaging hard rock with Good God / Baad Man.
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