Kingcrimsonprog Corrosion Of Conformity’s fourth full-length studio album, and first both on a bigger record label and with guitarist Pepper Keenan on vocals, is by all accounts a classic album, containing some of the band’s biggest songs and making up a large part of their live set even to this day.

Deliverance saw the band move far away from their hardcore punk and cross over Thrash roots, and move into a territory of big, wide, Sabbath inspired songs, Southern leanings and a retro-feel that was paradoxically the modern thing at the time, when both alternative metal and stoner rock were starting to pick up followings.

There is some variety to be found here too, such as in the brief acoustic number ‘Without Wings,’ and the slide guitar filled, haunting southern ballad ‘Shelter,’ both of which help elevate the album above the crowd and display the bands musicality in addition to the raw rock energy that comes across on the rest of the tracks.

Pepper Keenan’s vocals are excellent here, at times evoking a mixture of Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie Von Zant and James Hetfield. The guitar and bass work is top notch as always, with big riffs being par for the course as well as the excellent drums from Reed Mullin that are tight, nuanced and 70s influenced.

Highlights include ‘Broken Man’ as well as the big singles ‘Albatross’ and ‘Clean My Wounds,’ and lastly the subtly menacing album closer ‘Pearls Before Swine,’ which perfectly treads the line between slow, brooding, spacey stoner rock and a big loud groove metal track.

Overall; Deliverance features that powerful, indefinable ‘classic album’ x-factor in spades. Any serious fan of the band will no doubt be familiar with the record and it is a perfect starting point for any potential new fans.

UMUR "Deliverance" is the 4th full-length studio album by US metal act Corrosion of Conformity. The album was released in September 1994 by Colombia Records. There have been quite a few lineup changes since the release of "Blind (1991)" as rythm guitarist Pepper Keenan, in addition to his guitar duties, has stepped up as the band´s lead vocalist, replacing Karl Agell. Pepper Keenan wasn´t a complete newbie to singing though as he has contributed with a lead vocal performance on "Vote With a Bullet" from "Blind". Bassist Phil Swisher is replaced by a returning Mike Dean. Mike Dean is one of the founding members of Corrosion of Conformity but left the band for a couple of years and didn´t appear on "Blind".

It may be because of the lineup changes or it may just be a wish to change their sound but "Deliverance" sounds vastly different from "Blind". Corrosion of Conformity have taken a lot of influence from Black Sabbath on this release and while the music isn´t doomy in any way, the riffs are at times very heavy. There´s also a southern hard rock/metal feel to the sound. Gone are the hardcore/croosover influences that dominated their back catalogue. It´s obviously a conscious choice and the band succeed very well in this pretty massive change of "core" sound.

Commercially the change of music style also payed off. The videos for "Albatross" and "Clean My Wounds" were both on heavy rotation on MTV in those days (both were released as singles too) and "Deliverance" ended up selling quite a few copies. It even cracked The Billboard 200 at the 155 position.

So what is it that made "Deliverance" a success? Well first of all most of the tracks on the album are damn catchy. It´s impossible not to sing along to the chorus in songs like the two above mentioned single/video tracks, "Broken Man" (probably my favorite on the album) or a song like "Seven Days". Corrosion of Conformity also manage to incorporate softer acoustic parts on the album which stands in great contrast to the heavier parts and creates a good dynamic. Because of these things "Deliverance" is a great experience as an album. Not just because of the obvious highlights (some are mentioned above) but because it´s a consistent and dynamic album as a whole. There are a couple of tracks on the album that stand a bit in the shadow of the best tracks on the album, but those tracks are still quality metal tracks and not as such fillers. At least not in the sense that they should have been left out or the album would have been better without them.

The musicianship is excellent. There´s a warmth and a passion about the performance that greatly increases the listening experience. The choice of Pepper Keenan as the band´s new lead vocalist is also a wise choice. He has a powerful, emotional and easily recognisable voice that gives the band a distinct sound. Add to that a professional and powerful sound production by John Custer and you damn near have the whole package.

"Deliverance" is a pretty timeless album in my book. It draws influences from the hard rock/heavy rock/metal of the seventies but at the same time it doesn´t sound retro. I guess the vers/chorus formula and the assessebility of the material will often get the album lumped in with the alternative/grunge rock/metal acts of it´s day, but I think "Deliverance" is one of those few albums from those days that doesn´t sound aged and completely trapped in the nineties. Take it out today and it still sounds fresh and kickin´. A 4 star rating is deserved. If you like hard rock/metal with strong melodies, heavy riffs and memorable choruses I can highly recommend a purchase.

mjayeh Dusted off this little beauty today to give it a spin as it was shackled up way to long. The boys out of Raleigh, NC put down the skateboards and moved from their punk roots and became one of the first punk-metal fusion bands and pulled it off well with this 1994 release. The range of this album I thought was pretty sweet as it flowed from monolithic power chords that engage some ferocious speed to a radio friendly "Clean My Wounds" that struck gold with its staccato riffing and strong bass/drum foundation. Overall, this a a good album to add to your collection and pull it out and share with friends that may have not hear of these cats.