During the first half of their career, Corrosion of Conformity went through a lot of changes to find their sound. Their early thrash metal releases create a confident noise, but didn’t always utilise the best of COC’s combined talents. 1991’s ‘Blind’ blended thrash with a more melodic stoner feel and brought them to a wider audience due to some great reviews, but was still a hit and miss slab of metal. It wasn’t until the release of 1994’s ‘Deliverance’ that the band unleashed something genuinely classic. Part of the greatness came from a shift into even more melodic territory – the COC sound was now dominated by huge stoner vibes and a very retro groove – but just as important was guitarist Pepper Keenan’s decision to take on the lead vocalist’s role. The fourth person to step behind the COC mic, Keenan’s melodic drawl was perfect for the new sound and on tracks like ‘Clean My Wounds’, when dropping Thin Lizzy-esque riffs into a very desert rock scenario, they finally sounded natural in a way they never had before. The follow up album, 1996’s ‘Wiseblood’, gained even more commercial attention due to an appearance of James Hetfield, but 2000’s ‘America’s Volume Dealer’ absolutely knocked that out of the park performance-wise, even if sales were not quite as impressive. With the new millennium, COC finally gave into their natural instincts and became one of the greatest stoner metal bands on the face of the planet.
Author Archives: Real Gone
GROUNDBREAKER – Soul To Soul
FM frontman Steve Overland has always seemed to keep himself busy, but the release of the Overland album ‘Epic’ in 2014 kicked off an especially prolific period for the British rock vocalist. The new, eponymously named band didn’t necessarily offer anything radically different from his “day job”, but in guitarist Christian Wolff and drummer Jay Schellen, he found new collaborators that worked very well with his still great voice. Between making three excellent studio albums with FM between 2015 and 2018, Steve also found time to record a fifth album with Shadowman (his on/off project with Thunder members Chris Childs and Harry James), a second Overland album, and even join a new band, Groundbreaker.
The new band mined a further seam of classic AOR sounds, and their debut album – as with so many Overland related projects – was a great vehicle for his voice. In addition, it allowed Work of Art’s Robert Sall to work with some slightly tougher sounds on occasion, and it was clear from the start that this new musical union had a strong heart. Unafraid to recycle a lot of genre tropes and lyrical clichés in songs like ‘The Days of Our Life’, ‘Eighteen Till I Die’ (nowhere near as embarrassing as the Bryan Adams tune of the same name), and ‘Standing Up For Love’, the band’s moniker was certainly chosen for its tongue in cheek qualities, but the album gave genre fans a great deal to enjoy.
Kurt Baker shares new digital single ‘Turn It Around’
Following his move from Spain back to the US, Kurt Baker continued to raid his archive of materials to bring his fans some great music. The digital releases – in conjunction with his label, Wicked Cool Records – have really helped to capitalise on the popularity of his ‘After Party’ album, but the newest instalment might just be the best yet.
ENUFF Z’NUFF – Enuff Z’Nuff’s Hardrock Nite
When Enuff Z’Nuff first appeared on the scene in the late 80s, they were very much the poster children for a bygone age. At a time when so many of the big haired bands were promoting sleaze, Chip Z’Nuff, Donnie Vie and their bandmates were flaunting a tye-dye aesthetic and an almost sub-Beatles like peace and love mentality. It was a move that, although unfashionable at the time, really worked for them. They became brief stars on MTV and gained very enthusiastic press on both sides of the Atlantic. After losing theur first major label deal after releasing the excellent ‘Animals With Human Intelligence’, they bounced from label to label, creating albums in a patchwork style from different sources, and although none of the subsequent releases would garner the kind of attention the debut and 1991’s ‘Strength’ had deservedly brought, Enuff Z’Nuff managed to retain a loyal fanbase.
David Longdon: 17 June 1965 – 20 November 2021
When Big Big Train appeared on the prog rock scene in the early 90s, they immediately set themselves apart from other new bands. Whereas other new arrivals seemed set on reworking things that were obviously derived from early Marillion or writing their own ‘Supper’s Ready’, Big Big Train were different. Their love of all things pastoral and a deep respect for the solo works of Anthony Phillips gave them a heart so much bigger than their would-be peers. With shifting line-ups came changes in sound, but the idea of “the song” always seemed to be key, but it wasn’t until the arrival of vocalist David Longdon in 2009 that they really broke into the big leagues.