Sia da subito ben chiara una cosa: i lavori migliori della band sono da ricercarsi nel micidiale trittico che i nostri hanno pubblicato negli anni novanta. A cominciare da Blind del 1991, passando per l'assoluto capolavoro Deliverance del 1994 e concludendo la sporca faccenda con Wiseblood consegnato alla posterità nell'anno 1996. Tre dischi Di HardRockBluesStoner suonati con quella carica e quella furia che da sempre sono una caratteristica dei Corrosion of Conformity.
In The Arms Of God viene pubblicato nel 2005 e vede purtroppo la defezione dello storico e collaudatissimo batterista Reed Mullin, sostituito dallo sconosciuto, almeno per quanto concerne il sottoscritto, Stanton Moore che viene ingaggiato soltanto per la registrazione del disco. Ecco l'unica nota leggermente fuori posto dell'album, con un drumming fin troppo scontato e lineare rispetto a quanto ci avevano abituato nel loro glorioso passato i ragazzi della Nord Carolina.
Ma ci pensano le due chitarre di Pepper e Woody ed il basso di Mike a gettare benzina sul fuoco sulla qualità globale delle dodici canzoni, per oltre un'ora di granitico ascolto. Dosi massicce di Heavy Fuzz che abbondano in ogni brano; un concentrato di Sludge Metal e Southern Rock suonato con una rabbia ed una veemenza a volte del tutto fuori controllo. Un album "spesso", sporco, prodotto in grezza maniera come richiede del resto il genere proposto. Si concedono soltanto qualche raro passaggio controllato, con tanto di chitarra acustica, come avviene in "Rise River Rise"; per il resto una torrenziale cascata di note con abbondante uso di toni ribassati nel suono delle due chitarre ed un distorsore usato a manetta senza pietà.
Hanno voglia di suonare ciò che ritengono necessario principalmente per il loro piacere; non si inventano nulla e guardano al passato con risultati eccellenti. Gli iniziali cinque minuti della Sabbathiana "Stone Breaker" ci mostrano il loro lato più Heavy, con una partenza Blues così lenta e massiccia da farli avvicinare addirittura al Doom Metal. Poi il brano prende una direzione più orientata verso un canonico, ma sempre incisivo, suono Hard grazie all'entrata devastante di un riff suonato da Pepper che è anche la voce trucida e strappata dei Corrosion.
Si prosegue con l'interminabile "Paranoid Opioid" drogatissima, desertica e Stoner tanto da avvicinarsi ai maestri Kyuss; passando poi dalle parti della canzone che preferisco, ovvero gli otto minuti di "Never Turns To More" dove dirigono lo sguardo verso i migliori dischi che ho già segnalato ad inizio scritto. Pesantissime mazzate sonore buttate giù dal quartetto, con rallentamenti e ripartenze che imperversano fino al termine della sconsiderata corsa.
Di un inezia al di sotto del voto massimo.
Coesi, intransigenti, rigorosi...massicci C.O.C...INFINITE WAR...
Ad Maiora.
Elenco tracce testi e video
01 Stone Breaker (05:17)
Scorned by your petrified eyes
Reborn with unjustified lies
With no apologies shown, the demonology known
I think we're dying too fast
But when fury recedes, only angels believed
It couldn't last
I won't last
It can't last
Trial, no denial, guilty by the hand of the power hungry
Man I'm unholy again, just ask the stone breakers (2x)
On high, the wicked on the mountain
Torn by the need to violate
Mourning the pure congregate
I'm on high
I'm on fire
I'm unholy
Just like the wicked on the mountain
02 Paranoid Opioid (06:33)
Life shuts you down life shuts you down
Suffocate inside when overkill surrounds
Pain kills the time pain kills the time
Depression bends the rules and now you're
Losing your mind!
Close your eyes
Another sunrise over and over!
Burn by the spoon and now you're dying
Too soon!
Paranoid opioid
Paranoid opioid
Got you living in hell got you living in hell
Delusional truth got you under a spell
Death is on your back death is on your back
And you can't survive
When nihilism attacks
Close your eyes another sunrise
Over and over!
Burn by the spoon
And now you're dying too soon!
Paranoid opioid
Paranoid opioid
Sun breaks through useless shade
Fall in love with a endless haze
Hard to find peace of mind
Burn by the spoon
Now you're dying to soon
Have you seen my mother
If the blood that your pumping is heartless
And you can't seem to make up your mind
And your soul is now shrouded in darkness
Just like your dying for the very first time
Just remember what reality taught you
And it wasn't always just for the thrill
You bow down to the one that lost you
And now the devil's going in for the kill
(you're in the arms of god)
Now you're six feet down now your six feet down
Suicidal black and unholy ground
Guess we'll never learn guess we'll never learn
Too slow to live too fast to burn
Close your eyes another sunrise
Burn by the spoon now you're dying too soon!
Paranoid opioid
Paranoid opioid
Paranoid opioid
Paranoid opioid
05 Rise River Rise (05:05)
I remember you, seems like yesterday
Do you remember me, I got lost on the way
Wrong muddy road is nothing new
We stand, but this rivers washing through
River rise from tear drops without warning
Float away while flooding yesterday
I'll be gone, I won't be back by mourning
So rise river rise
Wash this place away
Clean my dirty soul
So I can save it
For judgement day
This place will bring you down more than you'll ever know
Now it's do or die, I think it time ago
If you feel this pain, you can stay
I'll fly never liked it anyway
Son of a morning star
River rise from tear drops without warning
Float away while flooding yesterday
I'll be gone, won't be here in the morning
So rise river rise
Wash this place away
Clean my dirty soul
So I can save it
For Judgement Day
06 Never Turns to More (08:16)
Shackled down to wasted days
I think it's time to break these chainS
Planets align from the inside
The bitter truth still mystifies
Where is this king that wears no crown
Driftin' behind because I'm sliding down
Helpless man you can't ignore
Watch your back ‘cause never turns to more
Just like before
Just like before
Just like before
Just like before
Just like
Wise fool with devil's hands
I broke the rules to understand
Words to say from far away
As distant worlds fade to grey
Where is this queen that holds be down
Drifted away without a sound
Helpless man worse than before
You lost your ways ‘cause never turned to more
Ever more
Ever more
Ever more
Ever more
Never turns to more
Time has slipped and shut the door
Never turns to more
And we lost the days that we thought were ever more
Never more
Never more
Never more
Out of sight of mind
You took me to a different place, different time
I believed in you
Out of sight mind,
You took me to a different place every time
I believed in you
But the truth is what I never knew
Navigate through skies of blue
Homeward path long over due
The will to live is an oversight
What you give for just one night
Where is this king that wears no crown
I'm driftin' behind and I'm sliding down
Helpless man can't ignore watch your back ‘cause never turns to more
Just like before
Just like before
Just like before
Just like before
Never turns to more
Time has slipped and shut the door
Never turns to more
And we lost the days that we thought were ever more
07 Infinite War (03:47)
Deafening sound
Blackens the sky
Ashes rain down
Puritans die
Infinite war
Infinite war
Infinite war
Overlord, bring decibels of revolt
Two minutes and counting
Kill to remember
This war is a knife
Which will never surrender
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Overlord, bring decibels of revolt
Imperial hubris unholy oxy moron
Infinite contradiction
Become the enemy to defeat yourself
Kill switch engaged
Enemy sound
Snake bit nation
Burns to the ground
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Overlord, bring decibels of revolt
Infinite repetition
Never lessens a lie
Unless or until
All reason's eclipsed in denial
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite war “deafening sound”
Infinite
REVOLT!!!
08 So Much Left Behind (05:18)
Rising sun revealed an angel
My burning heart was overthrown
She came to take away this pain
But what I felt was never shown
So much left unknown
I found the road but I can't turn back
Overlooked out of time
So much left behind
*Drifting away reality
Follow the hollow river
Fusion dreams will never be
Never mean forever
And the path is hard to find
When there's so much left behind
Beauty flows like a river
Drowns my soul, purified
Drift away into forgiveness
Now I'm left to wonder why
No more tears to cry
Words to you were long overdue
These dormant are overhead
So much left unsaid
Gonna keep on moving
Gotta move on
11 Crown of Thorns (02:40)
Time has shown the lines
Crown of thorns divine
Choices are hard to find
Mistakes are few but they are mine
Earth so far below
Spirits sinking low
Reasons don't seem so odd
Sleep tight you're in the arms of god
12 In the Arms of God (06:55)
Words make fuel the power of fools to be used
Shadow you cast the longer it gets the shorter you last
Back to the wall now the one that you serve has abandoned your call
Desire backfires you become the opposed where you once had aspired
And you fall from the arms of god!
Sins are ignored the price you paid has been paid once before
Storm has revealed clarity brewing now it's you that is ruined
Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise!
Cast the veil the splinter has turned to a nail
Light has revealed your soul is beginning to seal
Visions have appeared delusions of death drawing near
Truth sets you free all along you were blind... now you see
As you fall from the arms of god!
Frozen still you freedom is testing your will
Pain has receded now you've lost you own will to believe! Believe!
Rise! Rise! Rise! Rise!
You're at war with your god...
These are the things that condition the man
Seldom shown the ways to understand
Heart was still beating but you know it was true
Locked in the cage and shown the wrong view
Standing aone like a lightning rod...
Sleep tight my friend you're in the arms of god!
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