Corrosion Of Conformity - Blind

 

Blind (30th Anniversary Edition) on double LP!

Mastered for vinyl with nine bonus tracks

Includes unreleased demos from 1988 and 1991, extensive oral history of the Making of Blind

Additional artwork and sketches included

Features "Vote With a Bullet," "Damned for All Time" and "Dance of the Dead"

There are many reasons why heavy-music fans hail Corrosion of Conformity. They've produced some truly iconic songs, including "Albatross," "Clean My Wounds," "Drowning in a Daydream," to name just a few. Late drummer Reed Mullin's frenetic powerhouse style was undeniable, and then there's the harmonious stoner riffs of guitar tandem Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman. But you know what isn't regularly touted when fans congregate about Corrosion of Conformity? Predictability.

The hardcore/punk crossover pioneers from Raleigh, North Carolina, came together nearly 40 years ago, and throughout their career have gone through a seemingly endless string of lineup and stylistic changes — rarely keeping their sound or roster intact from album to album. This, according to longtime guitarist and vocalist Pepper Keenan, is somewhat by design. The reason for today's conversation with Keenan is to celebrate the 30th anniversary of 1991's Blind.

Corrosion of Conformity's third full-length was a pivotal moment for the band. Not only was it Keenan's first outing with C.O.C, it also served as a stylistic bridge between the early hardcore fury of 1984 debut Eye for an Eye and its follow-up Animosity and the grimy Skynyrd-meets-Sabbath sound of later works including Deliverance, Wiseblood and America's Volume Dealer that would earn the band mainstream recognition throughout the Nineties and beyond.

"Blind was a very transitional album for us, and that was the fun part of it," says Keenan during a lengthy phone conversation from Le Bon Temps Roule, the bar he owns in New Orleans. "It was really uplifting to throw all the previous shit out the window and just go for it."

The first thing to get chucked out the window were the relentless punk-rock numbers that rarely clocked in at longer than two minutes. In their place, C.O.C. introduced dynamic songs with hooks, choruses, memorable solos, and varying lengths, tempos and moods — epitomized on Blind standouts "Damned for All Time," "Dance of the Dead" and the breakout hit "Vote With a Bullet." A genuine and mature hard-rock record, Blind ushered in a new era for Corrosion of Conformity and established a sound and style the group continues to explore to this day.

 

LP 1

1. These Shrouded Temples

2. Damned For All Time

3. Dance of the Dead

4. Buried

5. Break The Circle

6. Painted Smiling Face

7. Mine Are These Eyes of God

8. Shallow Ground

9. Vote With A Bullet

10. Great Purification

11. White Noise

LP 2

1. Echoes In The Well

2. ...Remain

3. Condition A / Condition B

4. Future / Now

5. Jim Bean and The Coon Ass

6. Damned For All Time (Demo 1991)

7. Dance of the Dead (Demo 1991)

8. Days of Rage (Hard Reign) (Demo 1991)

9. Buried (Demo 1988)

10. Fast Song (Instrumental Demo 1988)

11. Slow Song / Buried (Instrumental Demo 1988)

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