By Gruesome Greg
Though I probably wouldn’t drive a Scion (in fact, I don’t drive at all), I hafta give the company props for giving us a bundle of free EPs this year, from the likes of the Melvins, Witch Mountain and now Corrosion of Conformity. The latest full-length albums from the aforementioned are all contenders for my Top 10 albums of the year, so it’s sorta like Scion’s serving us dessert after a great meal.
In this case, dessert comes in the form of a five-song, 19 minute release that picks up where COC’s self-titled comeback album left off. “Feed On” starts off with a heavy rumble that resembles the latter’s “Psychic Vampire” (or at least the chorus of said number), Mike Dean doing his damnedest over the doomy dirge, the whole thing sounding slightly Sabbathian sometimes. “Priest Brains” (great title!) speeds things up quite a bit, a steady hardcore chug that comes in just under three minutes—much like their s/t, it’s somewhat of a throwback to their early days, but at the same time shows their maturity and age (ie, they don’t play quite as fast as when they were teenagers).
The title track is about as heavy as the prehistoric creature it describes. Speaking of throwbacks, this song kinda recalls Deliverance, though it’s obviously Dean, not Pepper, behind the mic. The warmer guitar tones that debut “Strong Medecine Too Late” also bring a more recent era of COC to mind, though things speed up from there, this song sounding vaguely familiar, like maybe The Sword or Red Fang or even Lo-Pan. Some solid stoner shit, to be sure. And then “The Vulture” ends it all, circling overheard with Dean’s voice hitting a higher register on this one just like the last. That said, this song is somewhat shorter, slightly faster and without quite as memorable riffage as “Strong Medicine,” but it’s still pretty decent.
All in all, I can’t really complain too much about anything. If you dug the direction COC took on their self-titled record—and I did—then this EP should tide you over till the next one.
(Scion Metal)
