Customer Reviews

Animosity

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4 star:		(1)
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I was first introduced to COC with 1994's "Deliverance" album and the only knowledge I had had of any kind of hardcore COC past was on the remastered "Blind" album. When I had heard "Technocracy" later on, I realized I had been missing out. Then not too long later, I came across COC's "Animosity" in a bargain bin, and I was so surprised when I heard the utter musical anarchy of this album. Before Pepper Keenan ever reared his head, this lineup featured Mike Dean singing and playing bass, Reed Mullin drumming and doing some lead vocals as well, and Woody Weatherman on guitar. All three churn out pure punk/thrash/hardcore metal at a frenzied pace (the album clocks in at just under half an hour long) and while Dean and Mullin's venom spewing voices are an acquired taste, "Animosity" is still one fine album. "Loss For Words", "Mad World", "Prayer", and "Kiss of Death" are personal favorites of mine, and if you can find this album I strongly suggest snatching it up.

Short, sweet and simple. The lineup on this album smokes, the compositions on this album smoke, the playing on this album smokes. You should get this disc.

This was arguably THE "crossover" album of the 80s, one of the crucial slabs of vinyl(remember those?)that "brought punks and metalheads together". It seemed like metalheads heard the S.O.D. album and went right out and grabbed this along with D.R.I.'s "Dealing With It", another "crossover" classic(that word always bugged me). What you get here is basically fast Black Sabbath with a healthy dose of heavy, rhythmic Black Flag action. You can bet Lars Ulrich was listening to Reed's drumming and wondering if he(Lars) had arthritis, and I remember fanzines proclaiming this record to rival Slayer or even top them(their most recent piece at the time was "Hell Awaits", so that's definitely fair comment, and remember C.O.C. were a three piece!). Anyway, the world and the human race is thirsting and hungering for this record to come back out, remastered with bonus tracks. If the first two Cryptic Slaughter albums get that kind of treatment, the Exploited, Broken Bones for crying out loud, why not Animosity?
P.S. you know if two or three popular regional hardcore bands stole their names from C.O.C. song titles, there's something good going on here. Yeah!

I got the cassette for Christmas from my grandparents in 1987. I remember thinking, "How ironic it is that the most brutally intense hardcore album I own has been given to me by my grandparents." Oh well, it was on my list. I read about it in Thrasher a couple of months before.

Animosity was mind-blowing. Upon the first few listens, it was almost too crazy for my white, suburban 16-year old mind to handle. The guitar feedback, the way-over-the-top drumming, the distorted vocals (that a thousand bands would go on to copy in coming years) ... it was like I had discovered another country. At the time, it was all Whitesnake and Def Leppard on the radio and MTV. Even my collection of Dead Kennedys and Black Flag albums didn't hold a candle to this mayhem. And it was all done with talent to boot! I couldn't believe what I was experiencing.

And what an impression it's left on me. To this day, after I come home from work and my 10-month old starts fussing because he's hungry, the lyrics go running through my head ... "looking for answers laughed hungry child!" I mean, what does it take for a song to leave that kind of impression on you 20 years later???

Obviously I'm an old man, so this album may sound much differently to most of you reading this review. But I listened to it again recently and I've gotta' say -- it's stood the test of time for me. If you're into Mike Patton, Hatebreed, Snapcase, Fear Factory, Pelican, Mastadon, Killswitch Engage ... whatever it may be that led you here ... in my humble opinion, this is where it all began.

I've been on a C.O.C. binge lately. I drug out the old cassete tapes and decided to look for them on disc. It's a shame I can only find "animosity" on cd, It's probably their best recording but "Eye For An Eye" is just classic. It's the pre thrash, hardcore punk masterpiece that paved the way for DRI and all those other bands that had such an impact in the early 80's. C.O.C. was just that, dirty. I've sen them in 90's and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Old C.O.C. is something original, If you can get it, get it!

This album is simply a thrash powerhouse, this is one. COC along with DRI represent what crossover is all about. If you like Black Flag with a little Metallica thrown in, you would like this.

...and i tell you the truth. Simply said, this album represents the quintessence of the mid-eighties hardcore-crossover : it's raw, brutal and with meaningful and political lyrics... With its ten songs in less than thirty minutes, it was, to my opinion, the ideal hardcore counterpart of Slayer's masterpiece, "Reign in blood"... Musically, it appears to be more 'sophisticated' (I mean better produced) than their earlier album, "Eye for an eye", but don't get me wrong, "Animosity" is still a brutal one without a single compromission. Too sad this band didn't become mainstream or more popular... Believe it or not, "Animosity" is now a classic and, nearly twenty years (!) after its release, it rocks even more... They were unique! I really hope you won't pass this one...

"Animosity," which marked the first time anybody had heard something from Carolina's Corrosion Of Conformity, was released a million years ago, dating way back to the mid-1980's (the year of 1985, to be exact). But even if it is over a decade-and-a-half years old, it remains as one obvious standout on heavy metal music's lengthy and convoluted whole timeline. After all, few releases (from the Eighties or anytime else) can claim to have ever become as enormously influential and innovative as this. "Animosity" is an early example of both thrash metal and blast beat-esque drumming, and is also one of the very first to ever blend thrash with hardcore. This melding of styles into was dubbed "crossover thrash" or "thrashcore," for short. And this sound would soon go on to inspire a countless number of imitators from the next couple of generations (the 1990's and 2000's), and even some that formed later that same decade. Furthermore, "Animosity" is also one of the most primitive and prime precursors to a whole other genre entirely, one you now know as grindcore. Indeed, this might be due to the fact that crossover thrash would essentially morph into grindcore one day - seeing how the former genre was so vastly influential on the latter, and that many bands frequently blur the lines between the two. And this is also partially due to a particularly aggressive, heavy, propulsive, and in -your-face, style of drumming, and one that has a prevalence of the aforementioned blast beats and pounding thrash beats. In addition, the songs are largely similar to grindcore in that they adhere to breakneck tempos with hardcore punk breakdowns and a very uniquely abrasive and raw and peeved-off pure hardcore attitude. Furthermore, the lyrics are very punk-y, and similar to those of many modern-day grind heroes, including (but not limited to Napalm Death, Nasum, and Dying Fetus. Finally, it is imperative to mention that the overall sound that C.O.C. display, here, feels extremely crusty. But no matter what the reasoning behind it,, the point here is that, this is, far all intents and purposes, one of the absolute earliest grindcore releases in existence. And pick any one of said genre's bands that has formed since the year 1986,and the chances are that they you can hear some of it in them. (For example, check out, say, Napalm Death, The Red Chord, Brutal Truth, Misery Index, "War And Pain"-era Voivod, Pig Destroyer, Nailbomb, and, uh, Animosity...the young death-grinders from San Francisco.)

But even if it weren't influential even in the least bit, "Animosity" would still stand as a a true landmark/milestone. Simply put, Eighties metal releases (crossover thrash or otherwise) rarely got as good as this. Clocking in at the mere playing time of 26 minutes, these ten blitzkriegs could not be mane one bit more intense, focused, powerful, or stripped of superfluous fat. It oozes with completely blown-out speeds, satisfying visceral heaviness, and palpable live energy. Plus, the intensity is furthered by exceptional instrumental prowess, including blistering, crunching, chunked-up guitar riffs, explosively brutal, propulsive, and inventive, drumming, sludgy and heavy bass notes, and an extremely tight give-and-take that involves everybody in the band. Next, the songs are always fused with good, if not typical, catchy parts. And, dang...how about those vocals, too?! Skinsman Reed Mullin engages in a rapid-fire trade-off with legendary frontman Mike Dean. And together they sure turn in one inspired (and inspirational) performance behind the mic. No one would dare to say different upon hearing his vehement and vitriolic screams/bellows, concert-friendly, adrenalized shout-alongs, and choruses that are as big and meaningful as they are likely to cut deep.

Peeling out of the starting gate by leaving tire tracks on the listener's eardrums, the ferocious, sparks-inducing, nimble-fingered buzzsaw riffage, and deft, pounding drums make "Loss For Words" the propulsive and frenetic opener that it is. Also included, here, are a bass solo and noteworthy vocals from Dean, who, in a completely unexpected twist, opts for using Dio-style classic metal singing. The Slayer-worthy tempos eventually grind to a lurching halt when a surprising doom metal breakdown is tossed into the mix. And before all is said and done, we get another good bass solo, and some ripping melodic guitar soloing. Next up, "Mad World" interweaves tasty, running, galloping, punk-flavored guitar leaves in between rhythmic, galloping beats, and hooky, funky-sounding slapped bass lines. ("Mad World" has quite a lot of impressive and complex bass work.) And several arena-ready sing-along choruses only add to its catchiness. And it packs all of this into less than a two-minute-long playing time. Then, after swooping in-and-out of deceptively slow walls of guitar feedback, "Consumed" abruptly takes charge and lets rip with frantic, vein-bursting thrash that would be an obvious influence on the later band Anthrax. It also is of note for a shredding solo, and plenty of 0walloping drum beats that consistently thunder along from the bottom.

And Corrosion Of Conformity just keep on shoving blood-pumping, scorched-earth thrashers down your throat. "Holier", which has widely-been-known to have been covered by Metallica, practically screams for its audience to violently pump their fists in the air. And a good, grumbling bass intro, and catchy hardcore attitude serve as the icing on the cake. The ironically-titled "Positive Outlook" is yet another careening, anything-goes speedster played with grinding intensity. Its primary highlight is a nonstop, whipping, and frenzied drum assault - Reed Mullin's punishing drum blasts and tight and blistering thrash beats give the music all the driving force that it needs. "Prayer" is a piece of catchy, Motorhead-derived speed punk. (Imagine what it would sound like if a hardcore outfit decided to cover something from Lemmy & The Gang.) The next three songs take on a concertedly more crusty and pure hardcore-oriented approach. Neither "Intervention," "Kiss Of Death" nor "Hungry Child" have seen even a tiny bit of studio polish. Their and prevalent use of sloppy, under-rehearsed musicianship, and especially discordant, crust-inflected, and dirty/grungy-sounding guitar and bass tones should attest to that. But things don't end on this note. Instead, the title track, which is pure doom metal through and through, comes storming onto the scene with This number uncorks one excellent, heavy, meaty, muscular, lumbering, and deliciously crunchy Black Sabbath-copped stoner/doom-laden riff after another. As such, "Animosity" (the song) is home easily to some of the most memorable, meaty, and contagious guitar licks ever documented by this band.

To paraphrase, even at the ripe old age of 16 plus years, it may seem ancient, "Animosity" is still, to this day, every bit as potent, memorable, relevant, intense, and masterful as ever. (And when weighing the high-levels of standards set in those departments, that is REALLY saying something! Purchase accordingly, especially when considering that no heavy music collection is complete without it. Or maybe you can just be deemed to have more-than-a-passing interest in either hardcore or heavy metal, as well as anybody who is curious about the genres' roots, and/or are willing to branch off from them into numerous other varied sub-divisions? Then these are two more reasons to make this a crucial purchase.

This is an awesome effort, one of the best albums to blend hardcore punk and metal at its time. Wit this record Corrosion of Conformity took the hardcore punk influence they were drawing from the likes of some Washington DC's more manic bands like United Mutation, Void, and Malifice with the thrash metal chops of early Slayer, Sodom, and Metallica. That might not sound like the most appealing mixture of styles to the single minded metalhead and/or punks, but hardcore punk and metal have some common roots and overlaps, for better or worse, and this is one of the better ones. Its a perfect blend of both genres that a few other bands did on their albums during the mid 80s did like G.I.S.M. on "Detestation", Amebix on "Arise!", and the Cro-Mags on "Age of Quarrel". But thats neither here nor there, this album is simply essential!

This album is quintessential when it comes to old school hardcore. This album is raw as hell. I owned this on cassette when it first came out, and I played it so much, I had to replace it. I eventually replaced it again with the CD. I guess you can see where I'm going with this... buy it!... it's worth every penny.