Metal Video Of The Week: Wolf Named Crow by Corrosion Of Conformity

This week is going to seem like the week of animated music videos here on the blog as we unveil your metal and rock videos of the week today. One of the most legendary southern metal bands out of North Carolina has always been the one and only Corrosion Of Conformity. Since the band returned with Pepper Keenan in 2014 for IX, it was about that time that we would start begging for new music from the guys and in 2018 that is exactly what you are going to get as the band prepares to release No Cross No Crown on January 12TH which is their first album via Nuclear Blast. While we patiently await the arrival of the new album, the band has delivered an early gift for all of their fans by unleashing an animated video for the track Wolf Named Crow. The video was directed by Costin Chioreanu and it’s a trippy journey as we see a wolf and a crow rise to power in separate journeys that are brought together over a toast to their rise to power. Mike Dean talked about the track saying, “Wolf Named Crow’ started with a couple of riffs Pepper was sitting on for a while. We learned those and collectively came up with a bridge on the spot and it fell together naturally. It reminds me of a new take on Wiseblood-era COC and Reed played some very original, yet very Bill Ward inspired fills. It’s easily my favorite track on this record.” Check out the video below:

MusicBowl 51: Sevendust Wins

It must be a blessing and a curse to be in the MusicBowl because this is the third one that we have done and it seems to me that whoever has won this has lost the SuperBowl. Last year, Corrosion Of Conformity won MusicBowl 50, but the Carolina Panthers lost SuperBowl 50. This year in record breaking numbers, Sevendust won MusicBowl 51 by getting 89% of the vote which was beating your opponent (Godsmack) by 142 votes total. Maybe it’s the curse of the MusicBowl that has happened or maybe the Russians interfered in the game which is why they lost. No matter the reason for it, Sevendust is your MusicBowl 51 winners and what that means is that I am going to cover a Sevendust record for the album of the week. So stay tuned for that when it comes, but for now enjoy this win.

Album Of The Week:Deliverance by Corrosion Of Conformity

As I had promised all of you before, whoever won Musicbowl 50 was going to get an album reviewed by me for the album of the week. Corrosion Of Conformity, who took home the championship is the band I am going to review. Before 1994, every album that Corrosion Of Conformity had put out had a hardcore/thrash influence to it. When the band released their fourth album Deliverance in 1994, they shed the hardcore/thrash influence and went with a more Black Sabbath-esque/stoner metal sound. Deliverance had a lot of firsts for the band besides the change in style. This was the first album to feature James Pepper Kennan on lead vocals and it was the band’s first album with Columbia Records. The rest of the band featured Woody Weatherman (Guitars), Mike Dean (Bass), and Reed Mullins (Drums). The album was very successful for the band at the time as it peaked at number 155 on The Billboard Top 200 charts (it’s their third highest charted album in the band’s career as Wiseblood is number one). The album also peaked at number five on the Heetseekers chart as well and it boasted two top 20 singles on the Mainstream Rock charts.

1. Heaven’s Not Overflowing– a hard rocking track about the stupidity of man as the author sees nothing but violence, hatred, etc. all around him. 5/5

2. Albatross– A sick Sabbath like track that has those slow demonic like riffs and the guitars are loud. According to one site, an Albatross is “A metaphor for a dead weight or burden that one must carry, especially when the burden is not a literal one but a stigma of some kind that one cannot easily discard or throw off.” So you can imagine what the song is about. 5/5

3. Clean My Wounds– a cool guitar riff that is hard charging in a track about a man whose sins are so bad that not even God can heal them. 5/5

4. Without Wings– a very cool instrumental track with some acoustic guitars 4/5

5. Broken Man– a hard, loud, and slow paced doom metal in a track that talks about a man who has been through it all that he may be a broken man, but he’s stronger than you. 4/5

6. Señor Limpio– a hard charging southern tinged track about a man who wants it all, but he can’t get it. 4/5

7. Mano de Mono– Another instrumental track on the album. 4/5

8. Seven Days– One of my favorite guitar riffs that has that southern metal sound to it that you can hear in Down.It’s kind of a song that makes you think about what you have done with your life. 4/5

9. #2121313– Another instrumental track 4/5

10. My Grain– Supercharged metal madness from the guys which could be a party song about a guy who gets so wasted and ends up with a migraine. 4/5

11. Deliverance– A kind of funky jam with a cool bass line during the verses before the guitars come in. Deliverance means “the action of being rescued or set free” and the lyrics make it look like they’re talking about somebody who isn’t either ready or deserving of saving. 4/5

12. Shake Like You– a track whose lyrics are powerful and smart as they discuss the stupidity of mankind through their usage of religion. 4/5

13. Shelter– an amazing and beautiful track that features some cool pedal steel playing by Bruce Smith tat gives the track that country flavor. 5/5

14. Pearls Before Swine– a very eerie and looming riff starts the track off with some incredible bass playing. I am little hazy on the lyrics because one source says it’s about Stefan Lux and I don’t see that in the lyrics, but with the title it makes sense. 4/5

My Final Thoughts- This album started my obsession with C.O.C. going forward in the future. It’s definitely one of their best albums the band made, but most of their albums are kick ass. Definitely check out Deliverance and then move forward with Wiseblood. I am giving the album 4.4 stars out of five for a final grade.

 

Corrosion Of Conformity Big Winners At Musicbowl 50

The Denver Broncos may have been the big winners of Superbowl 50, but it was a completely different story for Musicbowl 50. This year was the first time that we pinned two bands to represent the two team in the Superbowl. For the Denver Broncos, we had power metal legends Jag Panzer who hail from Colorado Springs. For the Carolina Panthers, we had Stoner Metal/Crossover Thrash legends Corrosion Of Conformity who hailed from Raleigh, North Carolina. We left it up to you the fans to decide who was going to win by voting and after waiting until the 4TH quarter to look to see who won Musicbowl 50, you gave the win to Corrosion Of Conformity. With that win, I am going to review an album from the band for the album of the week as part of winning it all. So, once again, congratulations to Corrosion Of Conformity on winning Musicbowl 50.

 

Musicbowl 50: Carolina Vs Denver

This is the second time that we are doing the Musicbowl here on Moshpits and Movies, but we just call it Musicbowl 50 to go along with the Superbowl. Superbowl 50 is tonight which means that the Carolina Panthers are taking on the Denver Broncos with one team hoping to taste glory for the first time while the other wants to be on top of the mountain one more time. For this years edition of Musicbowl 50, we are changing it up a little by selecting a band from each teams area. We are pinning them together and you will vote as to who the winner of Musicbowl 50 is going to be. On one end, we have a legendary southern metal/crossover thrash/stoner metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina in Corrosion Of Conformity. In the other corner we have a legendary power metal outfit from Colorado Springs, Colorado in Jag Panzer. Both bands have been around for a very long time, but only one can be winner of Musicbowl 50. Both of the bands have endured lineup changes over the years, but both have spawned some legendary guitarist like Pepper Kennan (C.O.C.) and Chris Broderick (ex-Jag Panzer, ex-Megadeth). Who are you going to vote for? You have until the start of the 4th quarter of the Superbowl game to decide.

 

Single Of The Week: Hung Out To Dry by Teenage Time Killers

There are so many supergroups in the world that sometimes it’s hard to keep track of who is in what, but at the same time they can be very interesting. For example, the Teenage Time Killers is one of those supergroups that strikes me as very interesting as the band was created by Corrosion Of Conformity’s Reed Mullin, My Ruins Mick Murphy, and producer John “Lou” Lousteau and they recorded most of their material for their album Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 at Dave Grohl’s 606 Studios in Northridge, California. The other part that is intriguing is who and how many special guests the record features the likes of Slipknot/Stone Sour’s Corey Taylor, Dave Grohl, Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe, Jello Biafra, Alkaline Trio‘s Matt Skiba, Fear’s Lee Ving, Clutch‘s Neil Fallon, Red Fang‘s Aaron Beam, Mondo Generator’s Nick Oliveri, Prong‘s Tommy Victor, and so many more. The track that I have for you guys today is the track Hung Out To Dry which features Randy Blythe on Vocals and Dave Grohl on Bass (which is unusual, but cool) with Mike Schaefer on guitar. The track is heavy and in your face as it matches the vocals of Randy Blythe and it’s just sonically fast at times. If you’re a fan of heavy ass music, then this may be a release for you. The track itself is also only a 1:54 seconds long giving it that punk/hardcore feel to it. Their album is due to hit the stores on July 31ST via Rise Records, but for now check out the track below:

Album Of The Week: NOLA by Down

For this week’s album of the week, I chose one of Phil Anselmo’s most popular side projects/supergroup in the band Down which was a collection of some of the south’s best metal musicians. The band which at the time was made up of Phil Anselmo (Vocals) of Pantera, James Pepper Keenan (Guitar) of Corrosion Of Conformity, Kirk Windstein (Guitar and he played Bass on this record) of Crowbar, and Jimmy Bower (Drums) of Eyehategod. The band was a southern rock/heavy metal/stoner/sludge supergroup that was drastically different than the bands they guys had played in at the time. The name of the album was NOLA which were the abbreviations of New Orleans, Louisiana which was the home base for the band as well as Phil’s stomping grounds. Before the album was recorded the band had released demos to the fans with the first one being a three song demo that they had tape traded with fans not revealing they were in the band. Eventually with all the demos done, it pretty much formed the basis of this record with Rehab, Pray For The Locust, and Underneath Everything recorded after the demo’s were released. After the album was released it would hit 57 on the Billboard Top 200 with Stone The Crow being the band’s only top 40 hit. This is how Phil once described NOLA, “NOLA has always reminded me sound-wise and approach-wise as a really loud demo, and it was based on three three-song demos that we did just for fun. We were still growing and finding out what we were as a band, and we were into a lot of bands that were influenced by Black Sabbath, like St. Vitus, Trouble and Witchfinder General.”

The album kicks off with the sweet sounds of southern sludge in Temptations Wings which is one of my favorite tracks on the record while the hard charging Sabbath like Lifer follows that while Phil mixes melodies and screams effortlessly and the band brings the doom. Pillars Of Eternity is a track where you can definitely see the Sabbath/doom metal influence that Phil talks about in the above paragraph. Rehab is a southern rock classic from the band in a tale about substance abuse. Hail The Leaf is a stoner rock track that revels in it’s glory about the pleasures of smoking. Underneath Everything has that sort of build up with the rhythm section before the grooves kick in. Let the headbanging begin! Eyes Of The South could be considered Down’s Sweet Home Alabama because of the fact that it’s a definite 100% grade A kick ass tune. It’s a track that combines everything we’ve loved from ZZ Top and just about any other southern rock band and turns that sucker right up. Jail reminds a lot of Planet Caravan by Black Sabbath where it has that slow ambient feel. Losing All is the next track on the album and it turns this sucker back up to 11 as it’s an adrenaline fueled freight train and it proves that Keenan and Anselmo are one hell of a writing team.

Stone The Crow is the band’s Whole Lotta Love, because it’s their biggest hit that hasn’t been successfully duplicated with it’s distinct southern rock flavor and vocal style from Anselmo that goes from smooth singing to the screeching screams. Pray For Locust starts with a cool southern tinged acoustic guitar that has background music similar to that heard in No More Tears when it’s the breakdown before the guitar solo if you’re listening to the full version. It’s essentially an intro that leads into the next track called Swan Song which is essentially in my opinion about being related to the idea of someone taking their final swan song in life. Bury Me in Smoke closes out the album and what an album closer this is. It’s sludge metal heaven as the song works like a machine with some amazing beats. This is definitely another of my favorite tracks on the record that I have to headbang to every time I hear it. This album to me is the best album that Down has ever released and that is why it’s going to get 4.3 stars out of five from me.