After the longest hiatus of the band’s history, Southern stoner rock legends Corrosion of Conformity have finally released their latest double sided album, Good God/ Baad Man. Have lineup changes and a break of eight years blunted their sharp, distinctive sound? Let’s find out.
But first, some background. With a total length of just over an hour, Good God/ Baad Man is longer than the band’s previous releases. With Mike Dean’s departure from the band in 2024, bassist Bobby Landgraf takes his place.
This album also marks the first in COC’s history to not be produced by John Custer, producer of all previous COC releases. Warren Riker replaces Custer as producer. Riker is known for his other work producing for Down, one of the all-time great Southern metal bands also featuring Pepper Keenan. Although Riker has produced exceptional releases with Keenan in Down, there clearly have been some teething issues in the studio working with COC, as the change in production is sadly felt negatively throughout the album.
Good God/ Baad Man released under the Nuclear Blast label April 3rd, 2026.
Now, on to the music! Being a double-sided release, I won’t go into every number. Instead, I’ve covered key songs I enjoyed, disliked or otherwise found noteworthy.
First off: You or Me? is a thunderous early number in the record. It’s classic stoner rock and unquestionably Corrosion of Conformity sludge. The tempo switches often with typical groove coming from Moore’s drums, even if they sound a bit dull in Riker’s production. The mid-section becomes a psychedelic and electrifying journey which leaves the hairs on my arms standing up. The song closes in typical COC shredding style, it’s a testament to the band’s dedication to their sound that it still sounds as good as 90s stoner metal.
Following that comes a second left-hook in the form of Gimme Some Moore. It’s an intense, drilling riff which drives the entire song. Matched with Landgraf’s bass and Moore’s amped up drumming, it’s an enormous sound tipped with Pepper’s typically raw vocal work. The song remains extremely high energy throughout with chuggy bridges and an equally catchy chorus. I saw distinctively Pantera influences in this track which put a wide smile on my face.
Closing out the ‘Good God’ side of the review is the massive Run For Your Life, with a length of just over nine minutes. The guitars interplay flawlessly in this funky, groovy temple of psychedelic rhythm. The guitar tone is distorted, grinding along in that slow, groovy riff. It’s classic Southern sludge in the same vein as Down. The drums may sometimes feel quite simple and uninspiring, but they are nonetheless tightly formed alongside the bass and guitars. The bass can’t be understated on this track. Underpinning the lengthy guitar solos especially in the mid-section, the vibrations coursing out of the speakers was chilling. It perfectly formed together with the guitar’s slow picking for a giant wall of sound hitting my ears.
Moving into the second half, Lose Yourself took me by surprise for a moment with the electronic intro, but quickly gave way to an immensely funky Sabbath inspired swing-fest. It’s one of the top head-bobbing tunes in the whole album. Pepper’s vocals mix coarse with Ozzy style reverb-fuelled wailing. The drums never cease to change up the tempo and keep the whole riff ceaselessly exciting.
Violently bursting onto the scene, Asleep on the Killing Floor brings Landgraf’s thick bass tone to the front of the stage. The track drips with his crunching bass, thrust ahead with energetic drumming and that classic bouncy riff. It’s one of COC’s best additions to their discography. A powerful midsection makes for perfect jamming at home as well as in the car with a rolling drumline and psychedelic guitar melodies crying out. Pepper screams to his limit for the final, funky chorus of the track. This song will stick with me for a long time, it felt straight out of the late nineties.
For the final track in the review, Forever Amplified closes Baad Man with a colossal, slow building anthem of stoner rock sound. It’s a grand conclusion to the album with a sinister guitar working in tandem with the drums to close out Corrosion of Conformity’s masterpiece with an epically thunderous riff. Pepper Keenan’s voice wails with Weatherman’s perfect lead guitar work. The song ends with a huge fusion of all things Southern and loud: Skynyrd, ZZ-Top, Down, and of course Black Sabbath.
To put it mildly: Good God: Baad Man is not only my favourite release of this year, but one of the best in the history of Corrosion Of Conformity. Despite some minor bumps with production, the eight-year-long hiatus has shown to be just what the band needed to create such an epic release. Every section of every track feels deliberate and crafted by musicians who know exactly what they are creating, and what their vision is. Bobby Landgraf delivers uncompromising sound with his bass and is a worthy and proven member of COC’s family. This album is classic Southern sludge through and through; it has captured me like none other this year, and I highly recommend it.