Sound: Ass-kicking Metal that falls somewhere between Black Sabbath’s doomsday sludge, Pantera’s crunchy, riff-heavy aggression and Down’s southern-fried, steel-toed boot-stompin’ blues (i.e. classic mid-90s, Pepper Keenan-fronted COC)
Note: This is their first studio album in five years, the fourth studio album with Pepper Keenan on lead vocals, and the eighth studio album in the band’s 22-year career
Heavy Rotation tracks: “Paranoid Opioid“; “Infinite War“; “Rise River Rise“;
“It Is That Way“; “Stonebreaker”
Medium Rotation track: “Dirty Hands Empty Pockets/Already Gone”
Recommended: They’re not doing much here that they and others haven’t done in the past, but it’s a high caliber and much-needed release that may do more than any other album this year to keep the Metal torch burning.
Grade: A- (Top Albums of 2005 candidate)

(As posted 5/30/05 on davepowersmusic.com)
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