Corrosion of Conformity are reuniting with guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan for UK/European and North American dates. Other than a few surprise appearances, this will be the first time Keenan has toured with the band since 2006. This will also be the first time the "Deliverance" lineup of the group has played together since 2001. C.O.C. recently emerged from hibernation as a trio and released 2012's eponymous album and 2014's "IX" to wide acclaim, but many have been eagerly awaiting the return of Pepper Keenan. The band were originally an influential hardcore punk/heavy metal crossover act before reaching critical success with a new lineup on 1991's "Blind" album. That trajectory continued with wider appeal as Keenan took over as primary vocalist on "Deliverance" (1994) and "Wiseblood" (1996). These two recordings in particular fused the raw energy of the previous albums with some great strides forward in classic rock inspired songwriting and more spacious production and execution, which were often copied but rarely equaled. This juggernaut gained mass and momentum with relentless touring alongside Metallica, Clutch, Eyehategod and many more. Eventually following "In the Arms of God", 2005, Keenan focused all energy on his hometown band Down. Until now, that is. Recent internet chatter on the subject of a reunion turns out to be true.  

For nearly three decades, the name Crowbar has been synonymous with HEAVY. Since rising ominously from the swamplands of New Orleans in 1990, they’ve been hailed internationally as one of the world’s foremost purveyors of crushing, melodic sludge. Crowbar’s eleventh and latest album, The Serpent Only Lies, is both an affirmation of the band’s staying power and a nod to their legacy. “To me, it’s a fresh-sounding version of old-school Crowbar,” says vocalist, guitarist and mastermind Kirk Windstein. “I intentionally went back and listened to a lot of old Crowbar stuff, like the self-titled and Broken Glass albums, to get a feel for what my mindset was 20-plus years ago. I also went back and listened to the bands that influenced Crowbar in the beginning, like Trouble, Saint Vitus, Melvins, and the first Type O Negative record. So it was kinda me doing my homework.”   The result is an album that stands toe-to-toe with those early Crowbar classics while maintaining the lumbering hooks of mid-period standouts like 1998’s Odd Fellows Rest and 2000’s Equilibrium. Bolstered by massive riffage, new songs “I Am The Storm,” “Embrace The Light” and the title track explore the themes of life, loss and spirituality, respectively. “Even lyrically, the approach was a little more old-school,” Windstein offers. “Some of the songs have less lyrics to let the riffs breathe a little more, which I had kind of gotten away from over the years. It was a conscious thing to go back to that.”   The album’s bruising centerpiece “The Enemy Beside You” opens with the line “If you grow a set of balls, you might just change your life.” It’s a rallying call to woe-is-me types everywhere. “The song is not about anyone in particular—it’s about negative people in general,” Windstein explains. “People who bitch about everything, but don’t get up and do anything for themselves. I know a lot of people like that. If you need a job, get off your ass and get one. If you need to get off dope, go get help. Don’t just sit there and whine about it.”   The tour cycle for The Serpent Only Lies marks the return of original Crowbar bassist Todd “Sexy T” Strange, who left the band back in 1999 but now joins Windstein, drummer Tommy Buckley and guitarist Matt Brunson in forging Crowbar’s future.  “Todd helped start the band, so having him back is important to me and, I think, the fans,” Windstein offers. “It’s a great feeling to be standing onstage next to him. It’s a breath of fresh air for the band and makes us stronger.”   “Having this be our eleventh record, we’re very fortunate because so many bands don’t last this long,” Windstein adds. “My whole outlook on music as a career is the Motörhead outlook, which is that slow and steady wins the race. If you continue to put out killer records, continue to kick ass onstage every night and continue to treat your fans with respect, that’s the stuff people will remember.”  

The last time we heard from the Quaker City Night Hawks, they were traveling the country in support of their Lightning Rod Records debut, El Astronauta, an album that mixed the greasy strut of 1970s rock with doses of down-and-dirty Texas blues, science fiction, and Bible Belt boogie. The guys were Texans by birth, but their music whipped up its own geography. With its spacey, southern stomp, El Astronauta could've been the soundtrack for a road trip across the American desert…or even the house music for a weekend night at the Mos Eisley Cantina. Noisey said “this ragtag bunch of boundary-pushers is likely to appeal to fans of Fu Manchu and Tom Waits in equal measure,” and Rolling Stone proclaimed Quaker City Night Hawks songs “fly in the face of mainstream rules.”   Arriving two years later, 2018's QCNH ramps up that diversity with 10 new songs rooted in vintage R&B grooves, Stax-worthy funk, and guitar-fueled psychedelia.   "We've always been a rock & roll band," says Sam Anderson, who splits the band's singing, songwriting, and guitar-playing duties with David Matsler. "There's a big '70s influence and a strong southern element to everything we do. With this record, though, we're exploring the sounds we've haven't touched upon as often. It's the deepest we've ever gone into our influences, and the widest range of sounds we've ever tied together."   QCNH is tied together in more ways than one. Recorded at Niles City Sound (where Leon Bridges tracked his Grammy-nominated debut, Coming Home, several years earlier) in the band's hometown of Ft. Worth, the album weaves a handful of signature riffs and melodies throughout multiple songs, filling the tracklist with a common strand of musical DNA. The result is a boldly heterogeneous album that still functions as a cohesive whole, produced by White Denim's Austin Jenkins and performed by a group of road warriors who smartly balance their strengths — Anderson and Matsler's hook-driven songwriting; drummer Aaron Haynes raw rhythm; the band's blend of Tex-Mex desert rock and street-smart, big-city bombast — with their desire to explore and experiment.   The exploration begins with the kinetic kickoff track, "Better in the Morning." Loose and coolly confident, it's the sort of rock & roll anthem meant to be blasted loudly through open windows on a car stereo. From there, the album follows its unique muse into uncharted territory, from the sexed-up soul-funk of "Suit in the Back" to the heartland rock & roll of "Colorado" to the taut, riff-filled abandon of "Freedom." Along the way, the Night Hawks nod to Heart's Dreamboat Annie by pairing their acoustic guitars with analog synthesizers ("Elijah Ramsey") and deliver their own version of southern rock ("Fox is in the Henhouse").   The Night Hawks find some time to get weird, too. "Tired of You Leaving" was inspired by African artists like Ali Farka Toure ("It's a 'love/love lost' song that appeared during a week or so of more-or-less freebasing Fela Kuti records," Matsler explains), while "Grackle King" visits the heady heights of Pink Floyd-inspired psychedelia. When asked about the latter song, Matsler adds, "'Grackle King' is about a guy on the verge of a psychological breakdown who has a quasi psychedelic experience while looking into the eye of a crow…which is how I feel most days."   QCNH casts its net wide, roping gospel harmonies, extended jams, pop hooks, swirling organ solos, and guitar freakouts into the same tracklist. The song's lyrics follow suit. With "Elijah Ramsey," Matsler spins the story of a Millennial male who joined the Army in the wake of 9/11, only to deal with repercussions for years. "I had listened to 'Copperhead Road' by Steve Earle," the singer explains, "and it occurred to me that nobody that I'd heard had written a song about some of these men and women's stories that evoked sounds and imagery that they would have experienced during their time serving in the middle east." On "Suit in the Back," the guys recall a real-life run-in with a highway trooper during their Chris Stapleton tour. Perhaps most poignantly, songs like "Tired of You Leaving" and "Freedom" double down on messages of resolve and resilience, with the Quaker City Night Hawks turning their personal struggles into reminders to seize the day.   Built upon a series of live-in-the-studio performances, these tracks shine a light not only on the band's songwriting chops, but their strength as a road band, too. Many of the tunes were debuted on tour, where their arrangements could be shaped and sharpened according to an audience's reaction. As the music evolved on the road, so did the Night Hawks' lineup, which has weathered a handful of lineup changes since the band's formation. QCNH focuses on the band's creative core, with Anderson, Matsler and Haynes producing their strongest work to date.   "We've got a lot of road under our belts," Anderson says, rattling off a list of tour mates like Chris Stapleton, J. Roddy Walston, Lucero, and the Sheepdogs. "Songs change so much when you get to play them over and over again for people. They settle into themselves. You see what works and what doesn't, and you find the balance between the two. Then you bring those lessons into the studio."   Balance. It's the key to any band's survival. After weathering years of ups, downs, and lineup changes, Quaker City Night Hawks reach a rare kind of balance with QCNH. It's an album that rocks as hard as it rolls. An album that nods to the band's past while pushing off toward a new future. An album that reintroduces Quaker City Night Hawks as a 21st century band inspired by — but not defined by — the best parts of previous decades.