Corrosion Of Conformity - America's Volume Dealer [2LP]

There's really no way to pin Corrosion of Conformity down. First, there's that name, with its seemingly overt message that on closer inspection turns out to be about nothing in particular, and maybe was chosen simply to allow the band to write CoC on everything. Then there's the sound, that shifted from an aggressive primitive hardcore punk and crossover thrash style towards the slow-moving treacle of sludge metal and seems to have never settled at either end of that spectrum. The preceding album 'Wiseblood' contained elements of all those styles and more, with several songs that could have slotted nicely onto Crowbar albums and a couple that would have pleased Metallica a whole lot in 1996, while a scattering of odd parts remained that still sound weird and brilliant - aggressive doom with blues jamming, and so on. 'America's Volume Dealer' (slightly dodgy name aside) is a different kind of album entirely, though that really comes as no surprise. The band sound much more relaxed than before, with almost no thrash influence: the general feeling is one of southern rock and metal mixed with a sludgy rhythm guitar tone, while a few songs here play like country rock numbers, especially 'Stare Too Long', which includes piano and slide guitar in its lazy mid-afternoon drift.

TRACK LISTING:
A1. Over Me
A2. Congratulations Song
A3. Stare Too Long
B1. Diablo Blvd.
B2. Doublewide
B3. Zippo
C1. Who's Got The Fire
C2. Sleeping Martyr
C3. Take What You Want
D1. 13 Angels
D2. Gittin' It On
D3. Rather See You Dead
D4. Steady Roller (demo Version)