Blind (Blind - Corrosion of Conformity)

Member Name: Frankingsteins

Product:	Blind - Corrosion of Conformity
Date:	23/05/08 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Classic alternative-thrash-doom album, inspiring musical performance.

Disadvantages: May disappoint fans of the earlier hardcore-influenced work.

Emerging in the new decade as an alternative metal band combining their earlier hardcore punk, thrash and doom metal influences, Corrosion of Conformity released one of the classics of the genre with their magnum opus 'Blind.' Whatever that genre is, exactly.

This well-produced collection of songs is an example of an album where everything just sounds entirely right. The melodic guitar work of Woody Weatherman and newcomer Pepper Keenan interplays brilliantly with the strong rhythm section held up by creative drummer Reed Mullin, and the heavily instrumental sections (notably the ominous opening track 'These Shrouded Temples...') are just as exciting as the more standard verses and choruses with new vocalist Karl Agell.

This catches Corrosion of Conformity before they made the irreversible leap/downturn to a stoner rock band, but this style is incorporated successfully with songs such as 'Buried,' the lighter, Acid Bath style 'Echoes in the Well' and the bluesy solos of songs like 'Mine are the Eyes of God.' More dominant is the thrash influence, paving the way in the energetic 'Damned for All Time' and slower 'Break the Circle' and fusing with the sludge for the pleasant concoction 'Vote with a Bullet,' while the whole album avoids being off-putting to casual listeners by tapping, however coincidentally or intentionally, into the grunge/alternative rock boom of the early nineties.

The band would sadly never be this good again, but not many groups are able to produce a classic of this magnitude during their career.

1. These Shrouded Temples...
2. Damned for All Time
3. Dance of the Dead
4. Buried
5. Break the Circle
6. Painted Smiling Face
7. Mine are the Eyes of God
8. Shallow Ground
9. Vote with a Bullet
10. Great Purification
11. White Noise
12. Echoes in the Well
13. ...Remain

Summary: Corrosion of Conformity's third album (1991).