Two Guitars and a Bucket of Beers: Corrosion of Conformity's Good God/Baad Man

If you know the history of Corrosion of Conformity, you know that the band’s members aren’t exactly strangers to adversity.  Over the last 44 years since forming in Raleigh, North Carolina, there have been numerous events and situations that have tested the mettle of these legends, and time and time again, the boys from C.O.C. emerged victorious from those battles.  

After an auspicious start as a hardcore band until founding bassist Mike Dean left in the late 1980s, the group struggled to find a lead singer for years which jeopardized their future.  How did the band respond?  They recruited Karl Agell on vocals and Pepper Keenan on guitar and writing a metal crossover classic with 1991’s Blind.  When vocal production on new material for its follow up stalled, the group again found itself searching for a vocalist.  What was the solution?  Pepper assumed lead vocal duties based on the success of “Vote With a Bullet," and the group went on to enjoy mainstream airplay with 1994’s classic Deliverance on the back of several top tier singles.  When Keenan took a hiatus from the band around 2010, how did the boys respond?  They reverted back to their hardcore roots and produced two top-notch albums, before Pepper returned in 2016 for the classic southern-tinged metal the world has come to know and love. 

The set of circumstances surrounding the group in recent years, however, were more dire than anything mentioned previously.  Founding drummer Reed Mullin passed away in early 2020, succumbing to several health issues.  A one-of-a-kind drummer and so much more to the group, the loss eventually led to Mike Dean’s second departure, leaving half of what most would consider the band’s classic lineup intact.  Faced with these somber circumstances, Keenan and founding guitarist Woody Weatherman coped by holing up in Pepper’s studio in Mississippi, listened to old school classic rock, started writing riffs with, as Woody put it to me, with “two guitars and a big bucket of beers.”

The fruit of this labor is an incredibly ambitious double album, Good God/Baad Man, borne out of the multitude of riffs the two compiled during these sessions.  Throughout the songwriting process, it became clear to the pair that the material was headed in two separate directions, which led them to this concept.  They recruited Bobby Landgraf (ex-Down) on bass and Stanton Moore, who filled in exceptionally for Mullin on 2005's In the Arms of God, on drums to fill out the lineup, and set out to bring the concept to life in the studio and keep the C.O.C. thing rolling.  And the results are exceptional.

Between when the apocalyptic first riff kicks in on “Good God/Final Dawn” and the gospel guest vocals on “Forever Amplified” fade to the last pulse of the album, Corrosion of Conformity have found fourteen distinct yet unified ways to assault and assuage the listener with what could end up being the most unique and monumental release of the band’s storied career.  Dubbed Dark Side of the Doom by producer Warren Riker, the album plays as “a love letter to all things rock and roll” according to frontman Pepper Keenan, which allowed the band to create these distinct universes of individual songs that somehow work together under the umbrella of both their dual concept and the name Corrosion of Conformity.  No two songs on either album could be accused of sounding similar, but none of them could be acquitted of being the work of C.O.C. either – which is a spectacular achievement. 

The six songs that comprise the Good God portion of the record contain a more raw feel, amplified by feedback and background noise from most of the songs that bleed into the next track give the impression of a band performing the material live in studio.  The aforementioned “Final Dawn” sets the tone for the record with the familiar end-of-days vibe ever present in the group’s music, while the second single “You or Me” relies more on the melodic leads that brought C.O.C. through the 1990s, only with grimier basslines, highlighted by an “Into the Void”-like breakdown.  The lead single from the album, “Gimme Some Moore,” a play on drummer Stanton Moore’s name, leans most to the “pissed-off, heavier side” we heard about that harkens back to the group’s hardcore days.   “The Handler” relies on a funky wah riff along with some Sabbath inspired verses before a crushing chorus, before an eerie instrumental “Bedouin’s Hand” gives way to the epic, almost ten-minute closer to the first disc, “Run for Your Life.”  From the opening helicopter sample to the closing spoken word from Jason Everman (ex-Soundgarden and Nirvana), Keenan’s lyrics seem to recall horrors of war over a slower, marching guitar lead with vocals that echo the desolation of the events he’s describing.

Once we enter Baad Man territory, the lyrical tone gets considerably lighter, with well used samples that kick into one of my favorite songs C.O.C. has delivered in years.  The eponymous “Baad Man” is built on a riff that harkens back to the band’s big singles from the ‘90s while Keenan lets loose a little bit on the vocals, to the point that it becomes obvious that the band is really having fun with this all.  Though it hasn’t been released as a single yet, I would be shocked if it didn’t, while also becoming a staple in their set on their upcoming tour.  “Lose Yourself” follows with a hypnotic groove, beginning with another sample, which are used tastefully throughout the album, and moreso than any C.O.C. album in recent memory.  Another short instrumental, “Mandras Sonos,” is utilized similar to the three brief ones used on Deliverance, concluding with a bass outro that bleeds into the 4-string heavy “Asleep On the Killing Floor” which ramps the pace of Baad Man up considerably, concluding with Keenan screaming “Wake the fuck up!”

“Handcuff County” wouldn’t sound out of place on an old blues album, with Pepper’s twangy vocal delivery being straight out of a something you might hear coming from the stage at a southern dive bar.  He leans in a little harder to the old-school country storyteller role on “Swallowing the Anchor” over a simple classic rock riff, before the acoustically driven “Brickman” offers the album’s most reflective and beautiful moment.  The gospel-tinged “Forever Amplified” ends the album in new territory for the Corrosion boys, before the last sample, a heart monitor, expires to signal the end of our journey. 

When asked about the record, Pepper Keenan was quoted as saying, “With a lot of these songs, we’re trying to make Reed Mullin proud… he was a badass and a one-of-a-kind drummer – the stakes were high.”  Corrosion of Conformity have done just that, rising to the occasion once again as only they can, with a release that only adds to the band’s inimitable legacy.   Each song is distinct, unique, and works within the framework they have created for themselves with an ambitious double-album concept.  Considering the odds stacked up against them entering the studio ahead of this record, Corrosion of Conformity have delivered a towering monument to those who came before them, a touching tribute to their fallen brother Reed Mullin, and a crowning achievement in seemingly the most dire of scenarios.  But more broadly, every song and universe they’ve created here on Good God/Baad Man fits under the large umbrella of “the C.O.C. thing” that they’ve been creating and molding since they first picked up their instruments in 1982: a broad blend of diverse influences across all different genres that boils down to rock 'n roll in its purest form. 

And, after all, what’s more rock ‘n roll than two guitars and a big bucket of beers?

Overall Score: 9/10 Toxic Skulls

Recommendation: Prepare yourself to be blown away, yet again, by these absolute rock ‘n roll legends with what might be the most diverse, ambitious, and genre-spanning work of their historic career.  Play this loud and often. To truly immerse yourself in this record, you need to listen to it in its entirety, as all of these songs are distinct and stand out for their own reasons. 

Repeat directions as necessary. 

In case you missed it, check out my interview with Woody Weatherman below:

Corrosion of Confirmity's Good God/Baad Man releases worldwide on Friday, April 3rd through Nuclear Blast Records. If you haven't done so already, you can pre-order it by clicking on the link below:

Starting on April 7th, Corrosion of Conformity are touring the United States alongside Clutch, Whores, and Crobot. Shows with Clutch will be co-headlining gigs, while all other shows are headliners for C.O.C. For more information, check out their website at the following link.