Reviews list for Corrosion of Conformity - Animosity (1985)

It was hard for me to decide which crossover thrash album to give a listening/reviewing session to see if I have what it takes in the subgenre, but ultimately I chose the second album from Corrosion of Conformity, Animosity. This band has had a similar stylistic direction to Neurosis. Both bands started off as thrashy hardcore for their first two albums in the 80s, then from their early 90s 3rd album onwards, they started taking on a sludge metal sound, though Corrosion of Conformity has a more stoner/sludge style, while Neurosis became a major force in post-sludge. Animosity is Corrosion of Conformity's own Word as Law...

Animosity is more than just a thrashy hardcore album actually. It's different from the hardcore style they had in Eye for an Eye. This band and Suicidal Tendencies are known as two bands who started adding more metallic influences to their thrashy hardcore to create a different subgenre, crossover thrash! Solos and heavier riffs are added to hardcore, though not as metallic as metalcore which was not invented yet at that time. The instrumentation shows the band refined talent as the band play like professionals. There's great flow in the rhythms and sinister harmonies to make punky metal anthems. Animosity has that insidious energy to fill this offering. So get ready for a crossover the heavier metalheads will surely never forget!

"Loss For Words" already sets the band's heavier motive. Punky thrash anthem "Mad World" attacks in an invasive battle that only the strong can beat. And clearly I'm the strong warrior! "Consumed" is also quite d*mn killer.

The more sludgy sound is hinted in the mighty "Holier", though it's still quite thrashy. "Positive Outlook" has nice thrash. With that mixed with their usual punk, it pretty much sets the idea for crossover thrash. "Prayer" has the fast thrash that hints at Slayer would have in Reign in Blood, along with the hardcore that Hatebreed would later use for their metalcore sound. "Intervention" has some static distortion to add to the sinister atmosphere.

The incredible "Kiss of Death" nicely blends raw metal with energetic hardcore. "Hungry Child" is an OK punky song, though it would be better if it was longer. The title closer creeps in sounding closer to Black Sabbath. The thick bass sounds more dense than the earlier speedy drive. Quite a foreshadowing way to end a cool thrash album!

Animosity is a swift album sealing the thrash-hardcore blend known as crossover thrash. The riffs punch through static and atmosphere to create some evil dark punky metal anthems. The aggression has made this album a classic for mostly punk fans. The metalheads wish for the sound to be more metallic. Still this is an album I would recommend to anyone looking for an earlier blend of hardcore punk and metal, worth some good listening....

Favorites: "Mad World", "Holier", "Prayer", "Kiss of Death", "Animosity"

Considering how much I enjoy both thrash metal and punk rock I suppose I should listen to more crossover thrash than I do. The problem of course is that I have not really ever been blown away by a crossover album from the few that I have heard and so it is still somewhat of a peripheral genre for me. Corrosion of Conformity are also one of those bands whose name I am very familiar with, but who I haven't ever really listened to. This is probably due to the fact I keep seeing them spoken of in the same breath as Anselmo's Down, so I'm not that interested to be honest. Not looking good for Animosity really is it?

But, I did actually quite enjoy a lot of what I heard here. OK, it does occasionally slip into the kind of sloppy mess that crossover often descends into, but generally speaking it remains fairly coherent throughout. It draws heavily from the hardcore side of things, I would say more so than it does from a thrash direction. It actually sounds more metallic when the band throttle the pace back a bit and let the riffs become more measured. The hardcore really jumps to the fore on the more manic and faster tracks which make up more than half the album and then Animosity sounds much more like a Bad Brains album than a Slayer LP. To be honest, it is the punk attitude that I think carries this album with the metalness merely adding a layer of toughness but not really feeling integral and it is that inherent hardcore punk mania that I found most enjoyable about it. So, all in all a record I got a decent amount from, but not really for it's metal content, so I'm not sure how other Pittites who have less of a fondness for punk may view it.