Your Tomorrow has the dubious distinction of being both a decent dose of doom and a dash of disappointment, at least for this dedicated disciple of Corrosion‘s crossover conception. Allow me to dissect these dichotomous declarations in reverse…
For all the excitement I experienced when I heard that Corrosion of Conformity was (mostly) reforming, touring and prepping for a record, I was all the more excited that they were doing so in their three-piece Animosity-era line-up. And, well, having heard that, I guess I expected this disc to be something a little more… Animosity-ish. This trio of Dean / Weatherman / Mullins released a barn-burner of a crossover record back in the day, a classic that I still spin more regularly than any of their other efforts. While I have no intention of completely chaining them to their past, I had hoped that in their new / old, (hopefully) temporarily Pepper-free incarnation the time for a complete (if again temporary) return to their earlier punk-fueled glories was at hand.
But what we have here, kids, are elements of post-Deliverance CoC, albeit sans Keenan, who is still enjoying a little Down time, held against a stripped-down production and a lessened Southern swagger. (As of this writing, Pepper has not officially left the band. So far, it appears he’s merely sitting this one out whilst focusing upon his side project turned success story.) Your Tomorrow is one eight-minute song split into two pieces, an A- and B-side that jointly and severally act as a teaser for the forthcoming Album Number Eight, which is slated to drop sometime next year. The B-side, “Part 2,” is largely redundant, so one major complaint is simply that I’d have loved two CoC tracks, instead of one song twice. Nevertheless, with just one track in halves, there’s not much for me to expound upon, and yet, damned if I still didn’t manage nearly six hundred words…
To regress to my foremost point in the overly alliterative opening above, in either and both its parts, “Your Tomorrow” is a pretty good song, one that eschews psychedelia and Southern swing in favor of a rawer production and a more direct stoner-metal approach. These days bassist Mike Dean is back on the mic, his voice strong enough but less feral than on Animosity, and also less aggressive, more Ozzy whine and less whiskey-soaked and distinctive than Pepper’s blustery roar. Sabbath-sized and riff-heavy, “Your Tomorrow” rides a driving riff as good as most of the band’s last effort, the rock-solid In The Arms Of God. The remainder of the band sounds like Corrosion, doing what Corrosion does.
My penchant for crossover fury above stoner haze notwithstanding, I can’t really fault Corrosion for sticking closer to the sound that made them famous instead of to the one that merely made them cult heroes—it took them years to find their groove, after all. Some five years removed from Corrosion’s last release, Tomorrow begins not far from CoC’s most recent yesterdays. While Keenan’s absence is noticeable and lamentable, it’s not a total stonebreaker—Your Tomorrow would benefit from his presence, but it doesn’t require it. Fans of modern Corrosion will likely be satiated by Your Tomorrow, if also likely not blown away by it, and while the stoner version of this band undoubtedly remains stronger as a four-piece, this line-up once again proves itself worthy of its name.
