In the Arms of God by Corrosion of Conformity

In the Arms of God, Corrosion of Conformity's seventh studio album, came out on Sanctuary on April 5, 2005, and it finds the Raleigh band deep in the slow, bluesy heavy metal they had long since traded their hardcore punk roots for. Pepper Keenan sings and plays guitar, Woody Weatherman handles lead guitar and Mike Dean holds down the bass, but the drum stool is the story: for the only time on a C.O.C. album, Reed Mullin isn't on it. Stanton Moore of Galactic sits in instead, and he swings the riffs rather than just flattening them.

It was also Keenan's last album with the band until No Cross No Crown in 2018, though he rejoined in 2014. A couple of the songs had been knocking around for a while: an early "It Is That Way" appeared on the 2004 compilation High Volume - The Stoner Rock Collection, and an early "World on Fire" turned up in 2000 on the Japanese edition of America's Volume Dealer.

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