Retro Raunch Revisit

The North Carolina band's 2nd album which saw their direction take a sharp turn from hardcore punk towards crossover thrash after singer Eric Eycke left, with COC now a trio. The album comes off as an exact moment of the merging, sounding like 2 EP's as the 1st side of the record has the dark & gloomy metal approach while the 2nd side has a more beefed up rawer punk edge. It's a bit of a peculiar pairing with the raging combo rather sloppy & sometimes plodding, but each half is a manic counterpunch to the other; shared warped organs of fusion between 2 styles with the anatomy's grimy marriage full of distorted vocals & SABBATH-inspired breakdowns. Happy 40th Anniversary.