It’s been a dozen years since Corrosion Of Conformity recorded new material with vocalist/guitarist Pepper Keenan at the helm. In 2014, after nearly a straight decade traversing the globe as a guitarist with New Orleans supergroup Down, Keenan reconnected with the core Corrosion Of Conformity trio of Woody Weatherman, Mike Dean, and Reed Mullin to hit the road hard. And now, the long wait is over. Corrosion Of Conformity returns with No Cross No Crown, an album that somehow sounds as though no time has passed between 2005’s In The Arms Of God and today. Recording in North Carolina with longtime producer John Custer, Corrosion Of Conformity cut No Cross No Crown in about forty days over the course of a year.
A 35-year career is not enough to corrode the mass of energy powering a band like Corrosion of Conformity. Their unaltered electricity explodes after the album’s intro, “Novus Deus.” “The Ludditude” is unmistakably a blues song that is reminiscent of Black Sabbath and advances the track record of a band that is returning more energetic than before. “Cast The First Stone” is a hard-hitting, dynamic piece that leads to the brief instrumental “No Cross.” “Wolf Named Crow” jams in guitar riffs, one after another, followed by “Little Man,” which is dominated by solos and a typical Southern Rock style. With “Matre’s Diem,” the band turns things over to acoustic guitars, which come back brashly in “Forgive Me.” “Nothing Left To Say” is, in contrast, an angry ballad that grows leaden and despairing in its slow progression of riffs. In “Old Disaster,” the band puts the brakes on its rhythm, moving through the beautiful “Sacred Isolation” until it gets to No Cross No Crown, which has a lot less to do with politics or religion than its title implies. The album concludes with a nicely rendered cover of Queen’s “Son and Daughter.”
No Cross No Crown is an album that COC’s fans needed and that will also be appreciated by those with a taste for Crossover, Sludge and Southern Metal.
