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Friday Full-Length: Corrosion of Conformity, Wiseblood

Corrosion of Conformity, Wiseblood (1996)

It’s a classic either way, but I’m willing to go to bat for Wiseblood as the best Corrosion of Conformity record. Blasphemy!, you say. Controversy! Harumph! Harumph!

I agree it’s commonly accepted that 1994’s Deliverance (discussed here) is the Raleigh, North Carolina, band’s peak. The band themselves spent much of last year touring it again for its 25th anniversary, and in 2014, when they first reunited as the four-piece of bassist/sometimes vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist/backing vocalist Woodroe Weatherman, drummer/backing vocalist Reed Mullin (RIP 2020) and prodigal frontman guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan, it was tagged as the ‘Deliverance era’ lineup.

So why the defiance of common knowledge? Easy, Wiseblood is a better record. I talked about this a little bit a decade ago, but the key difference for me between the two landmark full-lengths — they both are, I would in no way deny it — is that with Deliverance, you kind of had to be there. I remember hearing “Clean My Wounds” on the radio and seeing the video on MTV. Same for “Albatross.” Deliverance has had an influence on bands that spans at least one generation, but if we’re looking at it purely from the level of songwriting, I’ll take Wiseblood almost every time.

Issued in October 1996 through Columbia Records with John Custer producing as ever, Wiseblood is without question a product of the CD era. It runs nearly 58 minutes long and brings together 13 tracks, including the advance singles “King of the Rotten” (the album opener), “Drowning in a Daydream,” and the slower-chugging “Man or Ash,” on which James Hetfield of Metallica put in a guest appearance on vocals alongside Keenan. But that was just a piece of the whole story. Wiseblood — like most commercial releases of the time — was not without filler, but in cuts like “Goodbye Windows,” “Long Whip / Big America,” “The Snake Has No Head,” “Wiseblood,” “Born Again for the Last Time,” the ultra-swaggering “The Door” and the subdued “Redemption City,” as well as those three songs that were sent to radio stations ahead of time, corrosion of conformity wisebloodthe band showed not only that Deliverance wasn’t a fluke, but that they could build off it and conjure even greater songwriting achievements. Wiseblood‘s title-track alone deserves to be pressed to a 12″, let alone the rest of the album. And as the record wound down, with the still catchy “Wishbone (Some Tomorrow)” following “Redemption City” and the satisfyingly speedy but largely forgettable “Fuel” and the almost-eight-minute instrumental jam “Bottom Feeder (El que come abajo)” closing out, even what might’ve been called filler retained quality and dynamic.

The hooks were everywhere. “Redemption City” (“what a pity…”), “Wiseblood” (“youngblood creepin’…”), “Goodbye Windows” (“I’d rather have holes in my eyes…”), “Long Whip / Big America” (“hey hey hey, what’s that game you play…”), “Drowning in a Daydream” (“there’s a man who watches over me…”), “Man or Ash” (“these are primitive — times!”), “Wishbone (Some Tomorrow)” (“twilight explodes in my time of the blind…”), and I don’t know about you, but I don’t have to do more than look at the titles “Born Again for the Last Time” or “The Door” or “King of the Rotten” to hear Keenan‘s voice singing them in my head. These songs continue to resonate even 24 years later, and speaking as a fan, they’ve aged well.

Of course, for a band who got as big as C.O.C. did at the time — “Drowning in a Daydream” was nominated for a Grammy in 1998 — every era will have its proponents, and C.O.C. have had enough eras to fulfill that impulse, whether it was their earlier trio days playing hardcore punk, or the beginning of Keenan‘s tenure with the band on the Karl Agell-fronted (later of Leadfoot) 1991 outing, Blind, on through the mid-’90s and into the 2000s with America’s Volume Dealer — slicker in production, still ace in craft — and the sans-Mullin 2005 In the Arms of God LP, after which the band went on pause as Keenan focused his time on Down, then proceeded without him for a self-titled (review here) in 2012 and 2014’s follow-up, IX (review here), before regrouping as a four-piece, touring like mad and eventually offering up 2018’s No Cross No Crown (review here), finding a middle-ground between nostalgia for the ’94-’96 era and the ensuing 20 years, essentially as an extension of the work the band was doing on the road.

With the band’s winding history, I understand how for a subsequent generation, they can be kind of intimidating to take on. 10 years ago, I advocated Wiseblood as the place to start, and I stick by that entirely. Deliverance was glorious — still is. The kind of record people dream of making. But Wiseblood, with its more developed melodies, plays between metal and hard, heavy and Southern rock and the sheer chemistry between the artists who made it, feels less connected to the time it was made. It’s always been in the shadow of its predecessor’s greater sales, and there’s no question which one begat the other — “King of the Rotten” feels like an answer to “Heaven’s Not Overflowing,” “Redemption City” to “Albatross,” and so on — but taken on its own merits, even up to the jam that unfolds across “Bottom Feeder (El que come abajo),” coalescing the interludes of the album prior into one longer feast of riffs and groove, I’ll still take Wiseblood, blasphemy or not. If you disagree, well, that’s fun too.

C.O.C., like everyone, have had their plans stifled by the realities of 2020. They would’ve headlined Desertfest this year in London and Berlin, and done more touring besides. Whatever happens for the rest of this year and the next and the next, the band’s accomplishments are legitimately the stuff of legend, and while the loss of Mullin earlier this year no doubt weighs heavy on the group, one can’t help but wonder if maybe they aren’t putting their downtime to use as so many others are and beginning to think about new material following up on No Cross No Crown. I’d take another C.O.C. record. That’s only ever something to look forward to.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

My father used to tell me he prayed for death every day. One time, he showed me where a tooth was chipped where his mother beat him with a belt and the buckle knocked him in the mouth. I’ve been thinking about that image. About the kind of guilt that must instill, the kind of self-loathing. He threatened plenty enough, but my father never hit me. I guess that’s progress, right? Generational progress?

When I get frustrated at The Pecan, I try and respond with kindness. It doesn’t always work, mind you. But I try. Is that progress too? I don’t want to be angry at my son. I don’t want to instill him with that loathing that I took as inheritance. My birthright to being a miserable bastard. I take pills. I’m not now, but I’ve been in therapy. My father never did that. I asked him about it once and he said, “A pill won’t change who I am,” or some such. Now that I’m an adult, I have to remind myself that that’s an illness I know well, because if I don’t, I view it as weakness. Is that progress, I wonder.

Sirens go by. I know I’m getting older because the world seems more terrifying. I love my wife. It’s me I could do without.

I’ll go to the playground today, take The Pecan out for a long walk to help him balance his energy out a little. He needs that. I took him to the doctor yesterday for his 30-month well visit. The lockdown at the office was serious. Then he took a nap and I went to Costco. The lockdown at Costco was less serious. People out. People still dying. Open the beaches. No one look at each other and you’ll be fine.

Drink bleach.

Or inject it.

No Gimme show this week. Pre-empted, which is fine. It was was a repeat anyhow, and they asked if I minded. Shit no. They’re good to me. I can’t complain.

Next week I’m streaming the Geezer album as of about five minutes ago. Also an Apostle of Solitude video premiere, and a Lamp of the Universe premiere and hopefully a Black Rainbows review. Lot of Ripple Music and Heavy Psych Sounds around here lately. Those two should team up as a multinational underground conglomerate and just sign everybody. Ripplepsych Sounds.

Be well. Love always.

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2 Responses to “Friday Full-Length: Corrosion of Conformity, Wiseblood

  1. Matt Graham says:

    Great write up and choice! Wiseblood is my favorite too. Never gets old. RIP Reed Mullin.

  2. jose humberto says:

    I remember the day I purchased that album in a record store in Austin , I was blown away

    :)

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