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Il biennio 1994-1996 rappresenta senz'altro l'apice creativo e commerciale della carriera dei Corrosion of Conformity. Partiti dieci anni prima come band hardcore punk, poi successivamente indirizzatasi verso un più tecnico e cupo thrash metal, i quattro musicisti del North Carolina cambiano ancora e pubblicano nel 1994 il seminale album Deliverance, un grezzissimo , polverosissimo, pesantissimo disco di puro stoner/hard rock, profondamente influenzato tanto dai Black Sabbath quanto dai Lynyrd Skynyrd, nel quale blues, rock e southern si mescolano e si appesantiscono per dare origine ad uno dei sound più esaltanti di tutto il panorama metal anni '90.
Nel 1996, il compito non facile di succedere al sorprendente "Deliverance" tocca a "Wiseblood", un disco che si propone di mantenere le coordinate precedentemente fissate da Pepper Keenan e soci due anni prima. Nel complesso, bisogna riconoscere che a livello compositivo "Wiseblood" non si rivela all'altezza del predecessore, non presentando canzoni veramente vincenti come erano state "Albatross", "Clean My Wounds", "Broken Man", "Senor Limpio", "Shake Like You" e "Shelter", ed anche il suono sembra essersi eccessivamente ripulito e levigato, probabilmente nel tentativo di attirare un maggior numero di fan. Fatte queste considerazioni iniziali, è altrettanto giusto dire che, se "Deliverance" era stato un capolavoro, "Wiseblood" non è niente di meno di un buon disco, che abbina riff potenti ad assoli taglienti, voce calda a sezione ritmica precisa e compatta.
L'apertura è intelligentemente affidata ad una coppia di brani esplosivi, l'incalzante "KING OF THE ROTTEN" e la sin troppo sottovalutata "LONG WHIP/BIG AMERICA", con il suo incedere irresistibile, i suoi feroci stacchi e i solos di pregevole qualità. Più compassata, almeno a livello ritmico, è la titletrack, dove non mancano certamente l'energia e la heaviness, elementi comunque non sufficienti a renderla una song memorabile. Man mano che ci si addentra nel cuore dell'album, tuttavia, si scoprono dei Corrosion forse troppo raffinati e dal rendimento altalenante: basti pensare ad un paio di episodi fin troppo ammiccanti al grunge (l'ipnotica "GOODBYE WINDOWS", "THE SNAKE HAS NO HEAD") dove le chitarre tradizionalmente abrasive si limitano a qualche comparsa, lasciando la scena alla voce di Pepper ed al basso - comunque ottimo - di Mike Dean, Ma l'episodio peggiore resta senza dubbio il singolo "DROWNING IN THE DAYDREAM", un brano incredibilmente ruffiano, forzatamente solare nelle melodie e nella voce, tanto da risultare in sostanza innocuo come il più banale dei motivetti da classifica: distante anni luce dal blues sporco ed ultra pesante di "Albatross".
Per fortuna, le debolezze del disco si esauriscono qui: "THE DOOR" e "WISHBONE" ci regalano perle del più ruvido hard rock sudista, si ritorna ai muri di fuzz, alle chitarre che ruggiscono come rombanti Harley Davidson, la Sabbathiana "MAN OR ASH" è impreziosita dalla presenza di James Hetfield dei Metallica ai cori. E chissà che James non si sia ispirato, almeno a livello tematico, anche alla terremotante, velocissima "FUEL", una esplosiva miscela di stoner sound e martellante ritmo hardcore, nemmeno tre minuti di pura adrenalina! Menzione d'onore anche per l'eccellente "REDEMPTION CITY" , semi ballad proveniente direttamente dalle rive del Mississippi, che non sfigurerebbe di certo in un album dei Down, e per l'ottimo strumentale conclusivo "BOTTOM FEELER", un concentrato di potenza, riff oscuri e ritmi che non lasciano scampo, condito da interessanti spunti solisti di basso e batteria
Per concludere, si può dire che "Wiseblood" sia stato un disco forse non sbalorditivo, condizionato da una produzione meno "assassina" rispetto al suo ben più quotato predecessore, e da un livello compositivo non sempre omogeneo. Resta comunque indiscutibile che i COC siano stati, anche grazie a questo album, un punto di riferimento nel panorama del nuovo Southern Metal, fondamentali precursori stilistici di band altrettanto cruciali come Down, Black Label Society ma anche i Metallica di Load e Reload. Non è certo un caso che Pepper Keenan, l'inventore di quei nuovi COC, oggi sia una colonna portante dei Down, la band che più di tutte impersona l'orgoglio, culturale e musicale, dei figli del profondo Sud.
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01 King of the Rotten (03:13)
If I was the king
Of all the rotten
Stealing filth
From those forgetten
Would you be my queen
Of a desperate land?
Do you give a damn?
What if I had to scold you?
Listen once tried and true
What if I had to trade you
For another man?
Do you think I can?
I won't call on the angels no
Beating on the line
As I turn to amputate
I'm bleeding on you
What if you were torn in two?
What if I wanted to be like you?
What if I were high, like an aeroplane?
Would you look at me the same?
I won't call on the angels no
Beating on the line
As I turn to amputate
I'm bleeding on you
-Solo-
If we walked side by side
Would you stab my back
And kill my pride?
Would you fall ahead
Or would you move behind?
Tell me words unkind?
Now if I was the king
Of all the rotten
Stealing filth
From those forgotten
Would you be my queen
Of this desperate land?
Do you think I give a damn?
I won't call on the angels no
Beating on the line
As I turn to amputate
I'm bleeding on you
03 Wiseblood (03:01)
When I was young
Some wise fool told me
Live and learn
But nothing comes for free
So I did what I could
When I was able
To keep the truth
Away from our table
Young blood creepin'
What you need?
Wiseblood shake him down
To his knees guaranteed
Well I never walked
I just learned to fly
And your heaven or high
Was the way I stayed alive
I've seen them devils
Pound our bible
You saints and sinners
Are both my rival
Young blood creepin'
What you need?
Wiseblood shake him down
To his knees
Aim to please
-Solos-
Well there's blood on the street
But there's nothin to steal from me
Cause I walk alone
But at least I walk for free
I listen to few and I'm fueled by fire
Guess now I'm old and now much wiser
Young blood creepin'
What you need?
Wiseblood shake him down
To his knees guaranteed
04 Goodbye Windows (05:41)
Past regrets and future fear
Turns a boy into a man
Sooner than he plannned
All the same the boy remains
Even though he's free he can't fly
With these heavy chains
Saw your mother yesterday
And she had these words to say
Like a judgement day
I think he shoulda known better
I think he shoulda known better
I think he shoulda known
I'd rather have holes in my eyes
I'd rather have hole in my eyes yea
Then to watch your soul paralyzed
Goodbye
Your shining son no longer glows
Goodbye window
Through the goodbye window
Thirsty from the start
Very soon you'll learn the
Oart of the redeemer
Oh what a dreamer
So you're waiting on the call
Pretty soon you'll know it all
Holy mountains fall
And he says
One might make you you lazy
Two might make you crawl
Three might make you crazy
And four ends it all
I'd rather have holes in my eyes
I'd rather have hole in my eyes yea
Then to watch your soul paralyzed
Goodbye
Your shining son no longer glows
Goodbye window
Through the goodbye
Through the goodbye
Through the goodbye window
Through the goodbye
(Shining son no longer glows)
Through the goodbye window
(Shining son no longer glows)
Goodbye
(Shining son no longer glows)
Shoulda known better
Shoulda known better
Shoulda known better
Shoulda known
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
06 Drowning in a Daydream (04:22)
There's a question mark in the place of a spark
That used to be an answer
Aiming straight for the heart
It missed it's mark & the arrow turned to cancer
No no
Now you get so high that you still can't fly
& you wonder if you're really where you wanna be
Cause the sun don't rise if you close your eyes
& you're sinking low
I thought that you would like to know
Like me
You're drowning in a daydream
There's a man who watches over me (Oh oh oh)
There's a man where I used to be (Oh oh oh)
Mr. Tambourine play one more song for me
Cause I gotta leave
I lost what I believe
There's a snake up in the tree
Only hearing what he sees
But the years go by & you don't know why
Did you take it all for granted?
No
Now you get so low that you can't say no
& you wonder if you're really where you wanna be
Cause the tide does rise and it's no surprise
That it washes you away
& Now you're far from home
Like me
Drowning in a daydream
There's a man who watches over me (Oh oh oh)
There's a man where I used to be (Oh oh oh)
Mr. Tambourine play one more song for me
Cause I gotta leave
I lost what I believe
Yea hea
There's a man who watches over me (Oh oh oh)
There's a man where I used to be (Oh oh oh)
Mr. Tambourine play one more song for me
Cause I gotta leave
I lost what I believe
Yea hea hea
Daddy's gonna miss you when you're gone
Heavy
Gonna kick you when you're wrong
Daddy's gonna miss you when you're gone (You get the blues & it makes you)
Heavy
Gonna kick you when you're wrong (You get the blues and it makes you wonder)
07 The Snake Has No Head (04:13)
Invalid at last
Smothers the working class
Nihilist to be
turns the scrape into a gash
Walking tall and ignorant
This man is now a militant
Deceiving the prophet's confession
To release endless agression
One is the soul
Amplified suicide
Keep the masses terrified
Nothing to kill
Nothing to kill
Nothing to kill
Nothing left unsaid
'Cause the snake has no head
But the body fills with greed
And we spill it when in need
And all the slaves are on probation
Growing fat in a comfortable nation
So the snake keeps on recruiting
We need one more royal shooting
Nothing left to lose
So we create another wound
One is the soul
Amplified suicide
Keep the masses terrifired
Nothing to kill
Nothing to kill
Nothing to kill
Nothing left unsaid
'Cause the snake has no head
Fear of death is gain
Consuming the weak in shame
It's a power we can't see
But it leaves ourselves to blame
The shameless mourn another day
Slithering sins fade away
But the snake is just a pawn
And remains when we are gone...
08 The Door (03:28)
break neck rat race world does it taste just like it should?
you only own what's etched in stone you better get it while it's good
don't weep big city sheep I'm just trapped in your hemisphere
you tell me what I should know and I can tell you what you wanna hear
say tunnel vison there is no purpose served
by staying aboard this runaway wreck
while you're losing is on the curve
right there's the door
don't knock little can't rock he's the one huffin' gasoline
been keepin' time with a cloudy mind since they hit him with a limosine
still the lil' ones eat off the cold concrete
and the bleedin' hearts don't care
you tell me where I can go and I'll bet you that I see you there
say tunnel vison there is no purpose served
by staying aboard this runaway wreck
while you're losing is on the curve
right there's the door
don't deny, purify said the man on the golden throne
guilty times have made you lie and you realize you're all alone
so now you're throwin' stones at some old bag of bones
and you can't even knock him down
and there's one last thing that you should know
and I can tell you without a sound
Right there's the door
11 Wishbone (Some Tomorrow) (03:59)
Torn from within, disciples til the end
wasting time is how it's always been
kiss the floor, steal the key, lock the door
there's many ways to decline
bonafide, crucified in your prime
you left behind...
Twilight explodes
in my time of the blind
you can't postpone
some tomorrow
Just one more wishbone
Broken days pumping through your veins
shattered thoughts, reflection always stays
losing sight, losing sight without a fight that once was a war
now you got a thousand scars and nothing to show them for
Twilight explodes
in my time of the blind
you can't postpone
some tomorrow
Just one more wishbone
In between surrender sight unseen
split the seam when no one intervenes
feel the kick from the heartless heretic that once made you shine
now you're grounded down for the last time, shut your eyes to the crime
Twilight explodes
in my time of the blind
you can't postpone
some tomorrow
Just one more wishbone
Just one more wishbone
One more
One more wishbone
Just one more wishbone
12 Fuel (02:39)
Here we stand before the call accused of fire
it's too cold and you're too old, for me it's time for me to expire
Serve to see of what could be
burn the freak and set him free
out of sight, out of sight, out of time
and you're way out of line
They cool the tongue to tame the flame
we burn the soul and it still remain
they freeze the tongue to stay the same
control me...
Cast the stone when in Rome
thick as a brick, the lamb's alone
bend the knee but don't you pray for me
cause I fly for free
Finding fame without a name
holy sound and no sustain
out of sight, out of sight, out of time
and you're way out of line
They cool the tongue to tame the flame
we burn the soul and it still remain
they freeze the tongue to stay the same
control me...
Free to run, deaf and numb
lock and load, unholy son
within reach, bleach the leach
he's a smoking gun
Serve to see of what could be
burn the freak and set him free
out of sight, out of sight, out of time
and you're way out of line
They cool the tongue to tame the flame
we burn the soul and it still remain
they freeze the tongue to stay the same
control me...
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