Album review: Corrosion of Conformity – Good God/Baad Man

By DAN SOUTHALL

IT’S BEEN a long time since COC released their last album – and unfortunately in the time since the band lost two original members.

Reed Mullin, the drummer, died and Mike Dean (bassist and Pre-Pepper era vocalist) decided to step away. This leaves the creative heartbeat of lead guitarist Woody Weatherman and vocalist Pepper Keenan to do whatever takes their fancy with drummer Stanton Moore and bassist Bobby Landgraf in tow for the ride.

And what a ride this album is. If you’re not caught up on just who is in this band and what they enjoy playing, Pepper Keenan’s ‘other’ band is a little group called Down. The opening two tracks “Good God?/Final Dawn” and “You or Me” start things of strongly with a bluesy vibe reminiscent of Keenan’s other project, but with a lose groove and little time for mucking about.

This same spirit continues through “Gimme Some Moore” that opens on a Stanton Moore groove and a sneaky lyrical throwback to the last time he played with the band (I am not your music or history teacher, go dig in the discography) and the relaxed recording atmosphere oozes through the speakers, warts and all. Sometimes this sees a dip in audio quality through the two tracks, but the energy barely contained within would not have sounded as good if they attempted to capture it again.

The only reduction in the energy level is the instrumental “Bedouin’s Hand” that feels wedged in among the groove around it to ensure the first tide of the album is as long as the second side, although this is made up for with this half closer “Run For Your Life”, with an eye-watering spoken word segment closing section enough to run a chill up your spine.

The second half of the album is even more relaxed and jam-orientated with the band locking into seventies blues jams constantly and consistently. 

From the acoustic jam of “Brickman” with whisky-soaked vocals creating a highlight that will have you coming back for more, to the free-flowing opening of “Baad Man” that grooves like your favourite seventies band. The fuzzy groove of “Asleep on the Killing Floor” with a menacing spoken vocal attack in the verses has the band flipping back to the angrier tracks on the first half of the album. The whole album is summed up in the grief of “Forever Amplified” – an unapologetic paean to lives lost, particularly drummer Mullin.

Although far from a sad ballad told through teary eyes, this track is the meaning of Rest In Power as everyone currently in the band puts their best foot forward and gives the music everything they have one last time.  Weatherman in particular plays out of his skin at times in some of the best soloing he has put forward in a long while.

In essence this is the sound of a band doing exactly what they want, when and how they want. It’s a whole bunch of live jam sessions stitched together to make a double album the likes of which haven’t existed since the seventies when a band could do whatever they want and record labels did their best to sell it. There can be dips here and there, but this is the kind of album that you can put on and just appreciate for all it has.

Get Good Man/Baad Man on CD