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.
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STANTON MOORE – Conversations
Over the years, Stanton Moore has cut a place within the jazz scene playing with various fusion outfits, including playing a vital role within Robert Walter’s 20th Congress (Walter, in turn, a vital member of The Greyboy Allstars). While Moore’s fusion and funk chops are without question, his devotion to jazz is just as strong and on his 2014 disc ‘Conversations’ he shows that his approach and sense of style behind the kit is smart and tight enough to channel the best work laid down by Art Blakey and Elvin Jones. Joining Moore on this release are bassist James Singleton and pianist David Torkanowsky – both legends within the New Orleans scene – to form a very impressive trio.