Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Weedeater and Mothership left me asking one question when this tour was announced, how the Hell can you go wrong? This is a bill where if you like one band, you can appreciate the others. This show 2/13 at Gramercy Theater was a night full of riffs, sludge, and down and dirty rock n roll. This show showcased the good and bad, the beautiful and ugly and the rawness and excellence of modern day rock.

Opening the show, we got Mothership, who has toured with Corrosion of Conformity on occasions before. There was no better band to open this show and the reaction in the audience was a testament to that. Mothership has the rawness and the riffs of a band like High on Fire or Sleep, to the speed and groove of a band like Motörhead or Pantera. This was the perfect band to open a bill like this. Aside from the songs that packed the pure sound of down and dirty rock, they engaged with the audience and passed nothing but positive vibes. In addition, I think the line of the night came from this band when their guitarist/vocalist Kelley, had a slight moment of technical difficulties and Kyle their bassist simply said, “It aint a rock show without some bullshit” and while the audience waited patiently for their sound to kick back in full force, Kyle and Judge brought some classic groove riffs to keep the audience busy and engaged. This band showed that an amp or guitar suffering from a moment of weakness doesn’t mean the band does.

Next on the bill, we have Weedeater. First off, I have to give this band all the credit in the world, and then some because this past summer, they suffered the loss of their drummer Carlos Denogean. I did not expect this band to jump right back on the road, but they did, and immediately hit the ground running with their classic and aggressive style of Stoner-Metal. This was a band where a moshpit opened up one minute, and then the same people would be taking a hit of their next joint. This band showcased not only the ability to triumph through tragedy, but just how they are able to have many different vibes in their sound and live presence, and have it all be positive at the same time. Carlos is definitely smiling down and his spirit was present with us in the room that night.

Third band on the bill, we get the almighty Crowbar. Crowbar is another one of those bands that cannot really be defined by one specific genre. The first time I saw them, they played with Death Metal legends, Carcass. Then I would see them on a pure Thrash Metal show with bands such as Overkill and Havok. Now they are on a tour with Corrosion of Conformity. Kirk Windstein is not only a man of talent and brutality, his true personality always shows both on-stage and off-stage. On every occasion I had the privilege of seeing him play, he was always present at the merch-booth hanging with fans, taking pictures, drinking beer and having a good time, and he brings that fun attitude with him onstage. Like Weedeater, Crowbar managed to create many different vibes in their audience with both their laid back side, and their aggressive side. One minute, we had a violent moshpit open up, and the next minute people were hanging back with their beers and watching the talent and live presence of one of the greatest Sludge Metal bands of all time.

Last but not least, we get the headliner of the night, Corrosion of Conformity. This band has definitely been busy the past year and a half after the release of No Cross, No Crown. From an epic tour with Black Label Society, Red Fang and Eyehategod, to an epic headliner a year into the record cycle, Corrosion of Conformity does not hold back in their sound of down and dirty Rock N Roll. Many people have reffered to C.O.C as “Stoner Rock”, “Sludge Metal” “Doom” ect, in the end, they should only be called one thing and that is Rock. With an epic setlist containing many songs from their newest album, to some classics for the old-school fans, Corrosion of Conformity continue to establish themselves as a Rock band that you do not wanna miss out on. They will always have an appeal to the Stoner Metal fans, but continue to expand their audience, and being that their show was packed to the brim, that is only a testament to that. Many people at the show were seeing these guys for the first time, which only goes to show how great their newest record is being that many current fans discovered them on this. Their set was tight beyond belief and again, had a rock side that made you want to bang your head, smoke some weed to or just sit back and enjoy a night of live music.

Corrosion of Conformity, Crowbar, Weedeater and Mothership demonstrated that with a signature sound, they were able to fulfill any metalhead’s wishes at that show. Some people who wanted to let off some steam had the option to do so with some violent moshpits, relax and feel that stoner vibe with the band, or just see for themselves that Rock N Roll is anything but dead.

No Cross, No Crown came out Jan 12^th 2017 via Nuclear Blast Records.