Reviewed on Friday July 25
After an initial tour cancellation due to dodgy promoters, and their drummer sitting out with a rotator cuff injury, it seemed North Carolina punk-metal pioneers Corrosion Of Conformity weren’t destined to make it to Sydney’s shores. With their ninth release titled (you guessed it) IX freshly pulsating in our ears, the revered veterans proved they meant business, managing to dust off their fretboards and hit the intimate Factory Floor in Marrickville.
Local acts Whisky Smile and Lo! loosened up every sober body with some hard hitting, sludgey prog metal. Whisky Smile showcased their raw Aussie ruffian style with songs like ‘A Dingo’s Got My Baby’ and a cover of ‘Nutbush City Limits’. Quartet Lo! equally pummelled the room with exuberance and attitude. The animalistic body windmilling of frontman Jamie-Lee Smith hypnotised onlookers as he climbed the barrier into the crowd and literally threw himself into the music.
Corrosion Of Conformity hit the stage with a mighty hour-long set of thrashing punk-metal tracks from their late ’80s albums and the more recent Megalodon and IX. The three-piece lineup is technically the original one with Mike Dean at the vocal helm and lead guitarist Woody Weatherman. Drummer Reed Mullin’s replacement was the dynamite Eric Hernandez from sludge metal outfit Kylesa.
Hernandez couldn’t have done a better job of ripping the drums up with prodigious muscle. The band opened with ‘Brand New Sleep’, rife with its signature drawn-out chugging riffs and throttling tempo changes. The burly Weatherman shredded away with his killer guitar solos and infectious smile, acknowledging the crowd’s energy with every riff and rhythm. Dean’s intense wails powered through like he was a devil possessed, looking every bit the grassroots rocker we love with his shaggy threads and fuzzed-out locks.
Hardcore classics like 1985’s ‘Loss For Words’ and ‘Holier’ seamlessly joined 2012 tracks ‘Psychic Vampire’ and ‘Rat City’ and sent the diehard fans into a furious mosh. COC’s set was exactly as it should have been – loud, fast, and a no-nonsense journey through their beastly catalogue of punked-out Southern metal.
