By 1994, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY were already deep into their career. Having formed back in 1982 and had released three albums and by that point, and throughout their career, the band’s music had taken on few twists and turns. With their fourth album, Deliverance, they were about to embark on even more.
Going back to the very beginning, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY were very much a hardcore punk band, playing shows all over the United States and bringing fellow hardcore bands to their Raleigh, North Carolina hometown to play.
The following years saw CORROSION OF CONFORMITY retaining their hardcore punk edge but adding more metal influences into proceedings and as a result, the band signed to Metal Blade where they released Animosity in 1985. The natural progression of the music of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY continued and on their third full-length Blind, the band added more riffs and grooves while still retaining the political edge and energetic fury of their past, particularly on the albums biggest tracks: the monstrous Vote With A Bullet. Blind also added another new vocalist in Karl Agell and a new vocalist in New Orleans native Pepper Keenan (formerly of GRAVEYARD RODEO), who handled vocals on Vote With A Bullet in a taster of what was to come next.
That next movement from the band was the removal of Agell (among other lineup changes, something that had been one a commonplace for the band) and Keenan taking over on vocals/guitar alongside a returning Mike Dean, Mullin and Weatherman and the resulting album was the next step on the vast COC journey; Deliverance.
This album (produced again by John Custer who worked with the band on Blind as well) kept the metal stylings of what had come before, but injected much more Southern/stoner rock stylings throughout. This change and the influence of Keenan definitely worked in the band’s favour.
Deliverance is fourteen tracks of Southern fried metal. Tracks like the opening Heavens Not Overflowing, Clean My Wounds, Señor Limpio and Broken Man were instant metal classics, while epic songs like Albatross and Pearls Before Swine showed the band’s ability to craft huge songs with their LYNYRD SKYNYRD-meets-BLACK SABBATH sound reigning supreme.
The heartfelt and utterly beautiful instrumental Without Wings is undoubtedly a high point as it segues into the gargantuan Broken Man. It echoes and pays pays tribute to how SABBATH brilliantly preluded the monstrous Children Of The Grave and Lord Of This World with the similarly beautiful instrumentals Embryo and Orchid on the legendary Master Of Reality.
That BLACK SABBATH influence was a huge one in this record alongside bands like LYNYRD SKYNYRD and BLACK OAK ARANSAS. The huge grooves and even huger riffs were testament to how great Deliverance sounds. Pepper Keenan‘s distinctive and soulful howl provides perfect foil for the rest of the band, with Dean‘s huge bass sound, Weatherman‘s scorching guitar playing and Mullin‘s pounding drums resulting in a truly vast sounding record.
Deliverance was an instant smash and saw the band’s profile raise even more and alongside the likes of KYUSS, CLUTCH and MONSTER MAGNET, they helped spearhead a new wave of riff heavy and groove laden bands.
With the band’s profile raised, they toured the globe extensively with tracks from Deliverance playing a big part of their live set, gaining plaudits from the likes of METALLICA who hand-picked CORROSION OF CONFORMITY to open up their headline set at Donington in 1995, which the band did with some style.
With Deliverance, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY‘s groove-laden riffage really struck a nerve with fans, and the fact that it still sounds as good thirty years later is testament to the power of the songs contained within. Crank it up loud and enjoy some good ol’ fashioned Southern fried metal!
Deliverance was originally released on September 27th, 1994 via Columbia Records.
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