Corrosion Of Conformity - 'In The Arms Of God'
                                                                                                                                            Released through Sanctuary Records on April 5, 2005
THE BAND:
Pepper Keenan - vocals, guitar
Woody Weatherman - guitar
Mike Dean - bass
Stanton Moore - drums



TRACK FRAGMENTS:
1.) "Stone Breaker" -This track opens with an almost abstract church organ arrangement.  The lead guitar scale of the intro section gives the song a very blues feel.  For the second half of the intro the rhythm guitar kicks in with a very simple laid back metal guitar riff.  The vocal lines of the verses have a very heavy feel to them.  The background arrangement of the verse almost over shadows the vocal lines.  Between the first verse and first chorus there is a small lead guitar arrangement that connects the two together.  The backing vocals of the choruses are arranged very simple.  The lead guitar riffs the guitarist wrote for this song have a very catchy hook to them.  The band really slow the arrangement down to a blues style sound for the small breakdown section.  I was a little surprised by the fact there was not a guitar solo.
2.) "Paranoid Opioid" -This track opens with a very intense metal sounding intro section.  The musical and vocal arrangements of the verses where arranged in a classic speed metal style.  The vocal effect used through the chorus reminded me a lot of older Voi-Void material.  This vocal effect gives the song a very abstract feel.  The band change the music arrangement just a little during the breakdown section.  There are several little pauses scattered throughout the song.  Each time there is a pause in the music the band comes back with a little bit of a different rhythm arrangement.  The solo was very short for this song.  
3.) "It Is That Way" -This track opens with a drum arrangement.  At times underneath the drum arrangement of the first half of the intro section you can hear a train whistle.  The second half of the intro section kicks in with a very dark intense guitar arrangement.  In the fashion the vocal lines of the verses are arranged gives the song a very abstract feel.  For one reason or another I was a little surprised by the vocal hook of the chorus.  I really wasn't expecting it.  The riffs of the guitar solo have a very abstract blues feel to them.      
4.) "Dirty Hands Empty Pockets/Already Gone" - This track opens with a bass line a long with a drum arrangement.  The vocal lines of the first pre-verse are more or less spoken than sung.  One of the cool things I though about the verse was the way the turned the mic up as the vocal line progresses.  After the verse the band kicks the song in with an older speed metal style arrangement for a couple of bars before bringing the arrangement back down to the verse arrangement.  I thought the way this entire song was arranged was very unique.  After a very small lead scale the band changes the arrangement of the song into a more electronic metal style arrangement.  The guitar solo section has laces of an eighties style hard rock influence. 
5.) "Rise River Rise"  - This track opens with a very cool acoustic guitar or mandolin arrangement over the top of simple electric guitar riffs.  The acoustic guitar a long with the way Pepper arranged the vocal lines gives the song a very Spanish sound.  laced within the vocal lines of the verses are little lead guitar scales.  This is another song where the arrangement of the track just blew me away.  At times throughout the vocal lines are these little vocal whisper sections.  I cannot stress this enough this is one of the best arranged songs I've heard in very long time!
6.) "Never Turns To More" -This track is the longest of the twelve tracks running at eight minutes and twenty-one seconds.  This track opens with a very intense sounding guitar riff.  The intro section of the song kicks in with a very laid back speed metal style arrangement.  The musical arrangement is so intense at times that it almost over shadows the vocal lines.  After each vocal line of the choruses there are small lead guitar riffs.  The lead guitar section was played by both guitarists and at times has an almost LSD effect to it. 
7.) "Infinite War" -This track opens with a backward masking effect.  After the backward masking effect the song goes right into the first verse.  The musical arrangement of the verses have a very older speed metal sound to them.  The double bass drum pattern gives the song a driving beat.  I was a little surprised by the laid back guitar solo considering the intensity of the songs back beat.  
8.) "So Much Left Behind" -This track opens with a drum solo.  The second half of the intro section consists of two different lead guitar scales with the second becoming the main rhythm of the song.  The way Pepper sung the song in a very laid back style really suited the heavy guitar riffs.  The main drum arrangements where done with mainly using the tom-toms, this is something you don't hear much anymore.  At times Peppers vocals have a very older Robert Plant feel.  The guitar solo was very well structured and fit the song nicely. 
9.) "Backslider" -This track opens with a very laid back older sounding speed metal arrangement.  The band added a vocal effect to the vocal lines of the verses.  In the way the vocals of the verse are arranged gives the song a very nice hook.  I really liked how the band used the electronic sounds to fill in some of the empty spaces of the rhythm arrangement.  There is a small pause in the arrangement before the breakdown section where the band changes the rhythm structure of the song.  I thought the rhythm guitar was turned up a little loud and drowned the lead guitar solo out just a little.      
10.) "World on Fire" -This track opens with a small organ arrangement before going into a solid eighties sounding guitar arrangement.  at times it sounds like the vocals of the verse sound like they are fading away.  This added a nice effect to the song.  I would have never expected such an eighties style music arrangement from this band.  This song would not have worked without the amazing twin guitar solo.
11.) "Crown Of Thorns" -This track opens with the sound of wind.  The vocal lines of the verse in a very strange way have a Beatles effect.  It sounds a lot like the stuff the Beatles where working on a couple of years before they spit up.  The band chose to add a vocal echo to the main vocal lines of the song which added a nice effect.  The acoustic guitar arrangement of the song had a very subtle effect.  Through the breakdown section you can hear a rocking chair and spoken vocal effect. 
12.) "In The Arms Of God" -This track opens with an older speed metal intro.  Scattered throughout the intro section are these huge Stanton drum fills.  As the musical intro progresses along it builds with power.  At the tail end of the into section there is a small lead guitar scale.  The verses have a modern metal sound to them.  For me I wasn't as impressed with this song as I was the rest of the tracks on the release.  The song just has too much of a standard metal sound.  With nothing that really stands out.  outside of the breakdown section where the band added an acoustic guitar arrangement.  There is a small spoken vocal piece during the breakdown.  

    When doing reviews you have to be as honest as you can with what you hear on the recording.  Sometimes trying to review CD's based on the material and not the band can be very difficult at times.  At the time Corrosion of Conformity begin to gain momentum with in the music business I was just beginning to clean my life.  So I found it very difficult to get into their style of music.  What I expected to hear on this release and what I heard where two completely different things.  What I expected to hear was more along the lines of the experimental metal like Nine Inch Nails or the stuff this band was doing in the early nineties.  But what I got was one of the best arranged CD's I've heard in a long time.  This is one of the few CD's where you can actually hear the bands' maturity in their songwriting.  If your a fan of the band than this will be a must have.