BLIND
Album Dive
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Before CORROSION OF CONFORMITY gifted us with their signature “Southern Fried Sabbath” sound, the metal world was first introduced to BLIND, a unique blending of thrash, doom, and stoner metal tempered with heavy foundations built on straight-up Sabbath worship.
Clearly a progression from the punk & hard-core centric sound of earlier COC and their maiden voyage into thrash metal territory, BLIND sounds as if Black Sabbath time traveled and came to power in the early 90’s as a modern-day thrash band complete with all the darker, doomier elements that were such an integral part of their signature sound back in the day. Surely, COC’s release of BLIND was pivotal in fostering the resurging popularity of Sabbath’s legendary, groundbreaking 70’s output.
Released November 5, 1991
Recorded 1991
Studio Baby Monster Studios, NYC
Producer John Custer & Corrosion of Conformity
Tracks
1 These Shrouded Temples... (instrumental)
2 Damned for All Time
3 Dance of the Dead
4 Buried
5 Break the Circle
6 Painted Smiling Face
7 Mine Are the Eyes of God
8 Shallow Ground" (instrumental)
9 Vote with a Bullet
10 Great Purification
11 White Noise"
12 Echoes in the Well
13 ...Remain" (instrumental)
Prepare to receive some sage “exercise” advice and understand why glasses aren’t always suitable for certain situations. Remember to never “fake your fartgasms” and don’t be a “dry handy jacker” after learning what “U.F.C.” actually stands for.
Discover the latest metal conspiracy theory regarding the “source of the YEAH”, go ahead and invite “Pee-Paw” and any “homies that are chicks” over to give thanks, and be sure to tell them to JOIN US after Thanksgiving dinner as we give thanks for CORROSION OF CONFORMITY’s 1991 groove doom thrash classic, BLIND.
HESE SHROUDED TEMPLES…
*Inhale*
A very eerie beginning…heavy, doomy, and dark. Other than Sabbath, let’s call this the beginning of doom metal.
DAMNED FOR ALL TIME:
The guitars and feedback from THESE SHROUDED TEMPLES… create an eerie, unsettling, and off-putting atmosphere before the powerful entrance of the drums. The weight of that sound is just brutal.
When it comes in, the only words to describe it are doom thrash. It’s heavier than hardcore, and it’s definitely metal while also chock full of thrash sensibilities.
“History repeats itself…”
Sounds like modern day Sabbath with a nice blending of doom and thrash.
The transitions at 3:54 and 4:20 are super doomy. Definitely a killer opener.
“Plowing through the land to annihilate for peace, another war child is spawned,
Sowing seeds of destruction in the name of the beast, damned for all time…”
DANCE OF THE DEAD:
If Sabbath were a doomy, hard-core thrash band, this is exactly what they’d sound like. Those bass lines could not be more of a perfect homage to Geezer Butler than they already are.
I’m not sure how much play the video got back in the day, but it’s worth checking out.
This is the soundtrack to any jam room dressed in wood paneling and orange shag carpeting. I mean, it could be green shag carpeting, but if you drop your relaxer grinder, you’re gonna have a really hard time cleaning everything up.
The solo, in its simplicity, has a huge sound. That gallop right after the solos is total doom thrash.
And that bass is total Sabbath.
“Keep in mind that you’ll find them standing in the way,
Run them down to the ground - make the guilty pay…”
BURIED:
THAT is straight up, unabashed Sabbath worship right there. Slow, heavy, and ultra doomy.
This album was somehow a classic metal album even when it came out in the early 90’s. It wasn’t “exactly” thrash, but it was clear that darker, doomier elements were becoming more prominent in metal.
“Time waits for no one…”
The heaviness of those grooves is second to none. If Black Sabbath jumped into a time machine and traveled back in time 2 decades, they would have surely released this in the 70’s.
There’s a very “jam room feel” to this album, kinda like with Down. You feel like you’re downstairs, it’s smokey and a bit hazy, and you automatically feel transported from 1991 to 1971.
The change at 3:58 with the fills and the guitars panned back and forth, left to right, are the perfect way to round everything out.
“You can say it with a vengeance – you’ll be back from the grave…”
BREAK THE CIRCLE:
That opening is pure doom grooviness.
Could this have been the birth, to some extent, of groove metal? Or was it just an enhancement of everything Sabbath did in the early 70’s with a modern 90’s metal flair?
If you don’t feel compelled to go back and listen to The First Six from Sabbath after hearing this then you’ve clearly missed the boat.
That slow harmonized solo is just pure, delicious audio, like a filet of sound marinated in a nice BBQ sativa dry rub.
After the 2:50 mark…pure heavy doom metal. Period.
“And still in time these wounds won’t heal…”
The one great thing about bands “ripping off” Sabbath is that it’s never an insult, nor is it thievery in any way.
In fact, it’s actually quite the opposite, as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
“Hear the warning…the end’s beginning…”
PAINTED SMILING FACE:
You could almost hear this on Master of Reality.
Those bass fills are clearly a nod to Geezer’s bass wizardry. (Take that as a compliment.)
Ironically, this album really proves how critical Pepper Keenan is to the sound of Down.
Use those headphones…this really shouldn’t be enjoyed without headphones and/or a ginormous bowl of relaxers, which is math that anyone can understand.
“It’s clear the end is near - this path leads to nowhere…”
MINE ARE THE EYES OF GOD:
The tension in the buildup is insane.
Those drums enter in a way that you can literally HEAR the room.
At :47 there’s a shift to sick grooves…
Speed doom, perhaps? Seems to sum it up nicely.
At the 2:20 mark, somewhere, Tony Iommi is grinning from ear to ear at the evil heaviness of that incredibly sick riff.
“And what I see is not what was meant to be…”
The evilocity in that outro solo: magnifique.
“It’s just like the West, to think it knows best,
When answers are subject to change…”
SHALLOW GROUND:
A nice break in the action that gives you just enough time to “reload” and prepare for the remainder of the album. Very ethereal and very calming…sorta has “Solitude” vibes a’la Master of Reality.
Perhaps the best part is how it ends in the exact OPPOSITE fashion from which it began: totally NOT relaxing and peaceful, but extremely sped up and unsettling as it makes the transition into…
VOTE WITH A BULLET:
“VOTE!”
The one song that Pepper sings on the album, which totally gives foreshadowing to the next phase of COC that (at this point) was yet to come (specifically Deliverance & Wiseblood).
Also, check out the video for this one: doom infused groove metal heaviness.
At 2:37, that solo is a pure homage to Iommic solo brutality, followed by one of the most brutal breakdown riffs in Metal. Btw, if you watch the music video, stick around for the “important message” at the very end…unless you’re illiterate, in which case, you likely aren’t even reading this either.
“So unleash the dogs, the only solution
Forgive and forget, fuck no
I’m talking about a revolution…”
GREAT PURIFICATION:
Listening to this now, it’s very clear that there are strong Down sounds going on here. This is practically Down before Down was actually DOWN. Perhaps on some level, the idea of DOWN was to create a band that sounded like this album, The First Six Sabbath albums, Crowbar, and Pantera all rolled into one huge audio blunt. (To be fair, they totally nailed it.)
If anything, this album has only received greater appreciation and admiration since its release 32 years ago.
“No lesson was ever learned – our fate stays the same,
Profane civilization will perish in flame…”
WHITE NOISE:
Definitely a favorite on this album. If you don’t move to this, you’re obviously dead inside.
Groove Doom Thrash, that’s the term that fits this best.
“White noise fills the air…”
Check out that break at 1:59…and then at 2:15… nowhere else can that level of technicality can be found but in thrash.
That solo sounds like it could have been lifted from Sabotage…Praise Iommi (and Keenan)!
I’m remembering now WHY we used to listen to this all the way through and just keep constantly flipping the tape over, over, and over and over again.
“…Nothing was said…
NO ONE SAID ANYTHING!”
ECHOES IN THE WELL:
Bass doom… put that on a loop and you can meditate to it in pure, doomy, droning bliss.
This may be the one true doom metal song on the album. The tempo stays pretty consistent, droning along ever so doomily.
Technically, this would be the official last song / killer closer for the album, in terms of the last “official” song.
The change at 3:57 will surely wake you from your stoner induced stupor.
There’s almost a middle eastern feel to it. Actually, that one change in the riff completely alters the sound of the entire song, somehow making it even heavier, especially at the end.
“Listen to the battle cries of a race that knows it’s dying…”
…REMAIN:
There’s only one reason to include this at the end…
Kudos, commendments, and condiments to COC, Blind, relaxers, wood paneling, shag carpeting and anything/everything related to thrashy, stony, doom metal goodness.
*exhale*
Show Notes:
(00:01): “Let me see if I can get another one off the list…” / #censored #grandfatherjoke #metalnerderyjokehour / “It was at #Sweetwater in Duluth…”/ “I just wanna see if it’s as uncomfortable as I think it’s gonna be…” / The joke that broke the host… #childhoodchristmases / “That looks like #Trogdor on the can…”/ #internetmeme / “Trogdor the Burninator…”/ ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised ***/ #thisepisodesclinkyoftheepisode / “This is a safe one…”/ #milkbags / #TrogdorTheBurninator / #triptapes / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST #NOSOBERNOVEMBER EDITION!!!***/ #Rivulet (“That sounds Fraunch”) #artisan / #thisepisodesbeeroftheepisode (“The word is ‘tangentional’”) / “That’s where they sell dicks…”/ #AkademiaBrewing from #AthensGeorgia #nationalchampionshipsportsdogs /
Beer of the Episdoe
Akademia Brewing
Ov Wolf And Grungeist
#TheBlackAlbum #albumcover / #fivepointfivepercentABV / #TheVerdict (“Not like downstairs…like the smell of #brandnewcarpet …”) / “Dude, you like #Winger ?”/ #laughtrack / #NapoleonASMR / #Grungeist #OvWolfAndGrungeist / “Pointing at YOU…” / ***IF YOU WANT TO SKIP AHEAD AND MISS ALL THE PRE-FOREPLAY, JUST CHECK THE #SHOWNOTES AND GO RIGHT TO THE DOCKET…*** / “You’re a dry handy jacker?” / “I don’t dabble…”/ “A #wetdryjack …”/ “Spit on it, pee-paw…”/ #LMAO / #stickaround / #RussellsReflectionsASMR / “Whatever you call your girlfriend’s butthole…”/ #sexwithglasses (“I sweat a lot…”) / “The only reasons I exercise anymore…”
(15:36): ***IF YOU’D LIKE TO GIVE US A CALL AND LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL, YOU CAN DO SO AT 980-666-8182!!!*** / #TheVoicemailSegment (Long time listener, first time caller…) #TheGreatSouthwest #wordsofencouragement #iconic #MauiWowieASMR #textcorrect #malwareboy (“A.I. is sentient…”) / #HailAndThankYou / “The ultimate fisting championship?” / #UFC / The rise of #OnlyFans / “We should save that one…” / #voicemailcompilation / #netherregions / #unfiltered and #unredacted / “That’s not the same dude…”/ #markthetime / “He’s raised the bar for enthusiasm…”/ #morningsickness / #RussellsReflectionsReprise #HailAndFarewell #RIP / #RussellsTVReflectionsASMR / #AussieSnakeWranglers #BrownSnake #SnakeDundee / “Are there degrees of dead?”/ Antivenom vs Antivenin / “A weird euphemism for…”/ #DaylightSavingsTime #timetravel / “Dude, that works for everything…” / “Would you use them if they were cock shaped?”/ #TheChangeUp #RussellsReflectionsMovieEdition #NoHardFeelings #dicksoftener
(34:14): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – BLIND / #MetalNerderyPresents #COC #CorrosionOfConformity #Blind / The next wave of thrash (with doom & stoner elements) / #SouthernFriedSabbath / “This album is straight up thrash…”/ The evolutionary transition from punk to hard-core to metal / #bassplayermeme / “What box does it go in?”/ If #BlackSabbath was a thrash band…/ ***Go check out our earlier COC episode…circa October 2021.***/ “There’s something wrong with you…”/ #WrathSAZ (“The #ludicrosity increases with each episode…”) / “People look different…squirrels don’t.”/ “I’ve got bone…” / THESE SHROUDED TEMPLES… / #doommetal #stonermetal #doomermetal (“Sounds like a church…”) #evilocityASMR (“That’s Sabbath and Slayer, mashed up…”) #Slabbath (“Black Slayer?”)/ DAMNED FOR ALL TIME (“Very 70’s sounding drums…”) #alltheballs / “This is groove metal…” / #ModernDaySabbath
(46:50): “This was their hit…” / DANCE OF THE DEAD (“This was their Enter Sandman…”) #breakthroughhit / “Now that song sounds like straight up #SabbathWorship “/ BURIED (“Never look back, just move ahead…”) / “We were blessed…” / BREAK THE CIRCLE (#GrooveSabbath) / “I would say this is a #groovemetal album…” / “This one is solid, front to back…”/ PAINTED SMILING FACE (“This is almost like funky Sabbath…”) / The comparison of Blind to Deliverance & Wiseblood / “Just let this one play…” MINE ARE THE EYES OF GOD (“It sounds like you’re in the jamroom…”) / “It’s like an ungritty Pepper…” / #moresalty
(56:07): SHALLOW GROUND (“Dude, just reload it and put some fresh in there…”) / “Here it comes…those are #flahns …”/ “That was the fridge…”/ VOTE WITH A BULLET #balls (“We do not promote…politics.”) / “He sounds like Gene Simmons…” / “Pepper’s too good of a guitar player to be a bass player…”/ “You’re getting good at that…” / #ShaneGillisASMR / GREAT PURIFICATION #Sabbathness (“I almost wonder if this got people back into Sabbath…”) / “Sometimes gifted people are…”/ #Queebeque / WHITE NOISE #oldschoolthrash / “Try and count that…”/ ECHOES IN THE WELL (“Do you fake your #fartgasms …?”) #verydoomy #verystoner #bonghitASMR / JIM BEAM AND THE COON ASS (“Sounds like Folsom Prison…”) / “Listen to the MC5 cover…” FUTURE/NOW / #bolthree / “Is that gonna be the newest #metalconspiracytheory …#thesourceoftheYEAH “/ No tracking changes / …REMAIN #thefinalword / “Let’s do it again…start at the beginning.” / “It looks like an old…component stereo system.”/ ***THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!!***/ #untilthenext / #PerfectChongLaugh #HappyThanksgiving #HappyTurkelDay / #markthetime / #hotdogwater (“That sounds like bad pee…”) / #DoomPsickle ***HEAD ON DOWN TO THE BUNKERPOON GIFT SHOPPE AND PURCHANDISE YOUR #METALNERDERYPODCASTMERCHANDISE AT metalnerdery.com/merch ***/ #outroreel / #PeePaw