Before we get into this, let the record show that I didn’t start with the album I’m about to recommend. I began listening to Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C.) with 1991’s Blind album. I was roughly 10 years old, and it was one of the first CDs I ever owned (as much as one can own something stolen from one’s older sister).

Some will say right off the bat my opinions on the band are skewed because of that — specifically since bassist Mike Dean didn’t appear on Blind — but I think it gives me a unique vantage point. I didn’t come aboard after the radio success of 1994’s Deliverance, and I don’t get all reminiscent for the reckless early days of C.O.C. on albums like 1985’s Animosity or their 1984 debut, Eye for an Eye.

The question at this point, especially since 2010’s reformation of the Animosity trio lineup of Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman and drummer Reed Mullin, is which is better, the Southern metal style the band began to take on with Deliverance, or the crossover hardcore punk/thrash of their first two full-lengths?

Guitarist Pepper Keenan — who came aboard for Blind and wound up taking a leadership role in the band across subsequent albums until this latest C.O.C. incarnation — would seem to be the divisive figure. Also of Down, his growing involvement in C.O.C. could be seen as the impetus for the shift in direction, and I know there are some who think of the band in terms of pre- and post-Pepper.

Nonetheless, in looking at the long, storied, decades-spanning career of Corrosion of Conformity and trying to pick a single album to recommend to newcomers to the band, it would be easy to say, “Listen to Animosity,” since that album and new material in that same vein (they released a 7″ called Your Tomorrow on Southern Lord this year) is what they’re currently touring. But frankly, as someone who’s listened to C.O.C. for nearly two decades of his life, I can’t in good conscience do that.

Start with 1996’s Wiseblood.

There. I said it.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also check out Animosity or support Dean, Weatherman and Mullin as the current version of C.O.C., just that, if you’ve never heard them before, Wiseblood is the place to start.

For what it’s worth, their last album with Keenan in the band (to date; one never knows what the future will bring), 2005’s In the Arms of God, was also fantastic — maybe their best work in the Southern metal style — but without Wiseblood to put it in context, I don’t think it can be fully appreciated. Wiseblood refined the process Deliverance started, offered better songs in tracks like “King of the Rotten,” “Born Again for the Last Time,” “Goodbye Windows” and “The Snake Has No Head,” and gave us the quintessential C.O.C. ballad in “Redemption City.”

Especially for an album released on a major label (Columbia), it was gritty and raw and genuine — which the band would lose sight of on the 2000 follow-up, America’s Volume Dealer — and all parties, Dean, Weatherman, Mullin and Keenan, were present and accounted for. I really do believe that if you’re a new listener to the band and you want to figure out what the appeal of C.O.C. is, Wiseblood is going to help you get the best idea. It was a special moment in the band and some of the best heavy Southern metal ever written. Whatever happens with their lineup, future releases or reunions, nothing is going to change that.

Any arguments, cases for other records to be made, or agreement, please, leave a comment.

Though they’re about half a day’s ride from me and I’m as able to go to one of their shows as I am to make an appearance in Georgia to catch Kylesa, it’s always good to hear from the dudes in Bible of the Devil and see what they’re up to, when their next gigs with Slough Feg are (April), and maybe get some news on when the follow-up to 2008’s spectacular Freedom Metal.

No word on the latter (though they do mention recording), but the band still has plenty of updates, so check it out:

There’s a few items of note from the Bible of the Devil camp as we approach 2011…

Looking for a rowdy, rad way to spend New Year’s Eve? Bible of the Devil will be playing Quenchers Saloon (Western & Fullerton) in Chicago with Tight Phantomz and Lovers. The cover on this one is $10 and is 21 and over.

Yes, you will actually have to pay a cover, but what are your other choices? Spend $100 to get in somewhere else? Who needs a crappy champagne toast when there’s plenty of PBR? BOTD will take the stage at the strike of 2011. Get there by 9pm or else you probably won’t get in! We also have our prized pint glasses now available for sale!

BOTD will be returning to Phantom Manor in two weeks to record new material for two forthcoming 7″ releases. Details to come.

Saturday, Jan. 29, sees Bible of the Devil‘s return to the Red Line Tap in Chicago for another edition of “Metal up Your Tap.” The lineup is absolutely ferocious and is not to be missed:

Bible of the Devil
Winterhawk
Wolfbait
High Spirits

Saturday, Jan. 29
Red Line Tap (7006 N. Glenwood, Chicago)
9PM. 21 and over. $7 cover.

The presumably self-titled demo from Richmond, Virginia, stoner doomers Druglord – aptly named for the sonic haze they create – contains just about no info regarding its origins or those who made it. Literally on the inside of the cover, it has the band’s name, the list of the three tracks, and “Recorded in Room 13 September 2010.” What that recording entailed, who helmed it or where Room 13 might be (probably in Richmond, but you never know) is anyone’s best guess. This might seem like an annoyance, but screw it, in this age of instant connectivity with artists, via social networking, Twitter and the like, it’s kind of fun not knowing how Druglord’s demo was made. Until I searched out their Facebook page, I didn’t even know how many people were in the band or where they were from. I only had the music to go by, and every now and then, I think that’s refreshing.

To sum the 13-minute, self-released demo up in one word: Stoned. Guitarist/vocalist Tommy (Druglord is on a first name basis) has a dank level of distortion on his guitar, crudely captured on lumbering Druglord opener “Smell Your Disease” and thickened – as if such a thing was possible – by Greta’s earthquake, mix-engulfing bass. If you’ve ever listened to Bongzilla, you know the kind of bass I’m talking about. Tommy’s vocals are a drawl, not screamed or shouted, delivered clean, but with that ‘90s-style drugged-out fuck-all that so few can pull off at this point. “Smell Your Disease” handles its evil groove well, and though Bobby is credited on their site (again, nobody’s credited with anything on the disc itself), I’d have sworn Tommy and Greta were backed by a drum machine. It’s demo production, but I’ll be damned if the ultra-fuzz on Tommy’s drawn-out leads isn’t charm put to tape.

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Even now, as my ears (for what feels like the first time) hear the ultra-low-mixed acoustic guitar that lets me at last make sense of centerpiece track “What I Know,” I feel like Grinderman 2 has been outrunning me for about four months straight. Since I first got the album — Grinderman‘s second, if it needs to be said — in August, I’ve been infected by it. It’s one of those records, man. Every song is a classic. The Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds side-project has simply kicked my ass. I didn’t see it coming.

The sleezy poetry of “Kitchenette” and the devastating crashes of “When My Baby Comes.” The unhinged cacophony of “Evil” and the groove-guitar paradise of “Bellringer Blues.” Grinderman 2 skirts between genres on a track-by-track basis, has a one-song stand with all of them, and then moves immediately to the next. Fucking “Worm Tamer?” Cheeseball innuendo never sounded so good.

I know I never reviewed it, and the only mention Grinderman ever got on this site was a Frydee video post, but Grinderman 2 has been a constant. Days and nights when I’ve finished listening to whatever needed to be reviewed, this is the album I’ve reached for the most, the album I’ve tried to absorb the most, the album to which I’ve done the most shotgun-riding drunken sing-alongs. And always, something new. And always, genius. When I die, bury me in this.

If you’ve ever wondered what it might be like to have Kirk Windstein yell at you with his hood up while standing at the bottom of a stone staircase (and who hasn’t?), ArtistDirect just debuted this new video for the track “The Cemetery Angels” off Crowbar‘s upcoming release, Sever the Wicked Hand. Heavy:

Sever the Wicked Hand is due out Feb. 8, 2011, on E1 Music. Check out Amy Sciarretto‘s original post of the video here. She’s good people.

I can’t believe it was only a week ago, but last Tuesday, Peruvian psych heads Serpentina Satelite posted an outtake from their Mecanica Celeste album to Soundcloud for all to hear, and I embedded it. As that tune was killer and as the band put up another, I figured we’d just repeat the process and do a weird deja vu kind of thing, like the ensuing week never happened and now you have to go through Xmas all over again. Yikes, what a nightmare.

This song — who knows how many others there might be? — is called “Rendencion.” It’s about three minutes shorter than its predecessor, and differentiated by ethereal spoken vocals, that, as far as I’m concerned, rule. If, like me, you’re looking for a good way to check out mentally on this post-“blizzard” Tuesday afternoon, I can personally attest to its assisting properties in this regard. Listen:

Exploring textured minimalism and a few other sonic impossibilities, psychedelic folkies Metal Mountains offer classy guitar meditations and soothingly echoed vocals across their Amish Records debut, Golden Trees. The trio remind at times of a less complexly-arranged version of fellow alliterative Brooklynite unit Silver Summit, crafting songs that bear an emotional weight despite their tonal sweetness, and occasional excursions into traditionally acid-laced territories. Golden Trees is the culmination of years of work for Metal Mountains, and it shows, as the record is a hypnotic 35 minutes that engulfs the listener with sustained notes that seem to expand in all directions the longer they ring out.

If anyone is leading Metal Mountains, it’s vocalist/guitarist Helen Rush, who is joined by fellow Tower Recordings alumni Pat Gubler (guitar) and Samara Lubelski (bass/violin). Her voice is a constant, calming factor on Golden Trees, and as the trio crafts soundscapes out of unsynchronized notes on “The Golden Trees That Shade Us,” Lubelski’s bass resting comfortably beneath her own violin, the atmosphere is paramount. It would be easy – really easy – to get lost in nature-worshipping hyperbole here, to talk about sepia forests and the quietness of streams, bird calls and naturalist bliss, but the fact of the matter is that what Metal Mountains have written for Golden Trees is undeniably human, the songs rife with longing and a kind of grazing breadth. Opener “Structures in the Sun” provides an active start compared to “Orange/Yellow” which immediately follows, but the tone throughout all of Golden Trees is peaceful, serene, an underlying flow within and between the seven tracks resulting in a cohesive, melodically beautiful whole.

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Being a humble heavy music blog with a small in-house label, I can only look on with admiration at the work of the dudes from Ripple Music, who’ve not only embraced what I think is the future of the music industry (namely independent, in-house media and release outlets such as theirs and this one), but have genuinely made a go of it and released some quality stuff. Judging by the size of this update alone, it looks like their momentum is going to continue well into the New Year.

Grab a cup of coffee and dig what the PR wire delivers:

In light of the success that we’ve seen here at Ripple Music over the last year, we wanted to look into our crystal balls and take a stab at what we see for the coming year, and then pass these findings on to you, the ever vigilant fan of heavy music! 2010 saw the label release seven titles, and 2011 is promising an even greater growth. Since the first release in June, Ripple Music has welcomed two additional acts to the family and has plotted out these follow-up releases:

Scheduled for release in early April, we’re looking at a deluxe CD reissue of the Stone Axe debut album with bonus live material, and a companion DVD featuring promotional videos and tons of live footage highlighting the bands epic performances. This reissue will be released in conjunction with the band’s trek across the Atlantic to tour the UK and parts of Europe that will culminate with their appearance at 2011’s Roadburn Festival in Holland.

While we’re on the topic of Stone Axe, word has come down from Tony Reed that the band is hammering away at material for a new album. No date has been set on the release, though initial discussions have us looking at a late summer street date.

Also featuring Stone Axe, we’ll be releasing the Heavy Ripples compilation double 7”, which will include the return of Brooklyn-based stoner-fied punks Mighty High, the introduction of blues-based retro rockers from the UK, Grifter, and on loan from the incomparable Small Stone Records, Sun Gods In Exile. The 7” will be packaged in a double gatefold jacket featuring the glorious artistic touch of Wayne Braino Bjerke. Expect to see this monstrous beast of sonic debauchery in April.

Speaking of Grifter, the band is partnering up with Ripple Music to release their upcoming album! The band is currently putting the wraps on the recording of new material and both parties are shooting to have the CD (vinyl?) released in May. A UK tour and potential US tour are in the works in support of the as of yet unnamed album, though odds are, it will probably be self-titled.

Being that we talk with Tony Reed on a near daily basis, we have some information pertaining to another Reed project that has us rejoicing in our sleep. We’re looking at re-releasing the first Mos Generator album as a deluxe 10 year anniversary edition. The details are still being worked out in regards to time frame and content, but much like the deluxe Stone Axe CD, expect there to be some great bonus material to be included in this package.

Poobah will be returning in 2011 with a brand new studio album titled Peace Farmers. Originally self-released by Jim Gustafson to a limited run of less than 500 copies, Peace Farmers acts as a great follow up to the reissue of Let Me In and features a couple of updated renditions of some Poobah classics. Initially, Peace Farmers will be released on CD only, but as the case always seems to be, the door is open to press limited runs of vinyl to accompany the CD edition.

On the doom metal front, is arm-locked with Venomin James to reissue their debut album, Left Hand Man, on vinyl! The album will be specifically mastered for the vinyl format and will include unreleased/live bonus material. Left Hand Man will be available in the first half of the year.

Santa Barbara ’s melodic hard rockers Tripdavon are currently working on additional bonus tracks for the deluxe rerelease of their latest album Sketches from Silence. As with many of the releases for the year, the timetable isn’t set in stone, though we suspect that the album will be ready for mass consumption towards the end of summer.

Finally, Ripple Music will release the latest offering from Scotland’s Iron Claw. The as-of-yet titled full-length album is comprised of all brand new material and includes the vocal talents of new member Gordon Brown. This will initially be a CD only release, but much like the Poobah release, there’s a great chance that it will also see a vinyl edition. Tony Reed is scheduled to master the album once it’s complete and should be available sometime mid-year.

That’s it for all of the major releases for the time being, though as things go around here, that could all change in a moment’s notice and the releases may double in quantity. Also, keep in mind, this doesn’t take into consideration any of the 7” single projects or new projects from Modern Day Moonshine or Fen that are in the works…  so keep an ear out for that news as it becomes available.