Sunday, May 15, 2005

Arms of God

Hey, all you Corrosion of Conformity fans! Have you bought, burned, or stolen their latest effort, In the arms of god? If you said no, please lean forward, and click here... did it hurt? I've been trying to perfect a virtual bitchslap, but not making much progress. So if you really did feel that, let me know what meds you are taking, and I'll stay away from them.

Back to this most excellent of discs. I've got to say that I am a bit biased. To me, they haven't put out a bad album. Some not as good as others, but still, none suck. (Unlike Blow, and Reblow by Metallica.) But this is one kick ass album! Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman play some mean guitar, and Mike Dean on bass is steady as usual.Some of the riffs just make you want to bang your head... hell, I wish I still had my long hair so I could do it justice!

My personal hotspots on this disc are In The Arms of God, Dirty Hands, Empty Pockets, and Paranoid Opioid. If you're short on time, the best stretch to listen to is the last track,In The Arms of God, and then the first two tracks, Stonebreaker, and Paranoid Opioid. There really isn't a bad spot on here, but there are a couple of tracks that don't quite fit with the rest of the album.

One of the things that really stuck out to me was the drummer that they used in the studio. Stanton Moore adds alot. Before I read his bio, I could easily tell that this guy is a jazz drummer. While Corrosion is a gritty, bluesy metal/rock band, his style fits right in. He's not touring with them. Jason Paterson is taking his spot on the tour, and he seems to do pretty good... not a slam on Jason. But I enjoyed Moore's playing so much, that I will be checking out his solo works, along with his band Galactic.

Oddly, the only complaint that I have about this album has to do with the drums. But it's the mix, and not the drummer. Through most of the tracks, the bass drum is too loud, with the volume of the drums overall occasionally trying to overide the rest of the music.

Definitely an album to check out!