Being familiar with their sound, No Cross No Crown did not surprise me in the slightest. Thick, riff- heavy, Southern sludge metal with bluesy vocals. There are no frills, no attempts at trying to put themselves across as something they are not. No Cross No Crown serves as an efficient and welcome reunion album for the classic line up of Corrosion of Conformity. That being said, this album is by no means perfect and definitely has some noteworthy flaws.
The album begins with an instrumental intro - one of many - and leads into the single that was last released before the album, "The Luddite." "The Luddite" is a well-written song, but does not offer anything new from Corrosion of Conformity. "Cast the First Stone," the next song on the album, is packed full of energy, yet, like the previous track, leaves something to be desired.
The next track "No Cross" is yet another instrumental interlude, arguably the best of its kind on this album but completely unnecessary. To be frank, none of these interludes would be necessary if there were less material on the album, but this will be addressed shortly.
The next song, "Wolf Named Crow" is yet another single from the album and perhaps one of the strongest songs on the album. Featuring some of the most well written riffs on the album and one of its best solos, this song could be pit up against any of C.O.C.'s classics.
After two relatively forgettable tracks, the near ZZ Top homage "Little Man" and "Forgive Me"; and yet another interlude, another high point is found in the song "Nothing Left to Say." Mike Dean's bass tone and the heavy, punching guitar tones of both Pepper Keenan and Woody Weatherman really shine on this track, which features some of the softest moments on the album and some of the heaviest. Woody Weatherman's clean tones on the first half of the song are almost reminiscent of David Gilmour's solo tones on The Wall. After "Nothing Left to Say" is yet another interlude, followed by two relatively strong tracks "Old Disaster" and "E.L.M.", the latter of which follows the lead of many early doom metal releases.
The title track is undeniably one of the strangest on the album and arguably the most pointless (apart from the quartet of interludes). It features hushed vocals and clean guitars, and could be erased from existence with little consequence.
The album comes into its final stretch with one of the strongest and most unique tracks on the album with "A Quest to Believe (A Call to the Void)," which features my favorite guitar solo on the album, which also happens to be one of my favorite Weatherman solos to date. Starting at around the four minute and forty-five second mark, this solo is laced in reverb and is sure to get stuck in the heads of most listeners.
The final track on the album had me incredibly skeptical, that being a cover of Queen's "Son and Daughter," from their first album. Apart from the high pitched "I want you" found in this song, this sounds almost as much like any other C.O.C. song that it could be mistaken for an original. The band did an excellent job at rendering this song in their own style, even though the mere thought of Corrosion of Conformity covering Queen is bizarre. Although an excellent cover, this track does not bring any sort closure to the album and seems almost out of place as the closing track.
No Cross No Crown is a truly solid release with some great songs, namely "Nothing Left to Say" and "Wolf Named Crow", but it is incredibly cumbersome. Fifteen songs clocking in at almost an hour is a lot of material, especially considering the four throwaway interlude tracks scattered throughout the first two-thirds of the album. There are definitely some forgettable tracks on this album that bring the overall quality of the album down, as any filler material will do. Without these tracks and the interludes, this album would have been a much better release.
The album's production and mixing are very bass-heavy and powerful. At times, the album seems to have a slightly muddy mix, but these moments are few and far between.
It seems that in recent times, comeback albums take the role of letting musicians grow comfortable writing and recording material with the group, and thus do not offer much material that is new or different. This is found in Faith No More's Sol Invictus and At The Gates' At War With Reality, among others. No Cross No Crown finds itself in this category of "more of the same" comeback records, but this is not necessarily a negative point. There is potential for growth and for advancement, especially in the case of such an amazing group of talented musicians.
Overall I would give this album a 6.0/10, primarily due to the few average tracks and large quantity of interludes. If the album had removed the interludes along with "Little Man" and "Forgive Me", it would be rated higher.
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