COC: Blind

It's flashback '90s; I've just re-purchased Corrosion of Conformity's Blind album which was released way back in 1991, this time in CD format. My original cassette version of this same album had the tape crinkled at its edges due to overplay. I still kept it for sentimentality's sake but it got very moldy & was discarded before I moved to my current residence. Blind was out of print before this hence the reason I didn't purchase it earlier. 

Why do I value this release highly? It's a lesson in simplicity. The COC guys laid down their metal in a simple form yet the riffs here were catchy & memorable. The production was also impressive but you'd argue that the drum had too much reverb in post-production. Prior to Blind, COC was a hardcore outfit (listen to prior release Technocracy) & as depleted journalism would have it, the label 'cross-over' was a necessary description for what the band did, jumping from one intense genre to another consecutively. It's an attempt to conjure a fusion of hardcore & metal, how exclusive was this label remains unclear. Mine Are The Eyes of God has to be my favourite track off this album. Reed Mullin could be the real predecessor to Brand Dailor's (Mastodon) simple but intricate drumming- just listen to this track.

Coupled with the satisfaction of Blind's acquisition was the memory of the day I originally bought Blind. I bought the cassette tape in 1992, a few months after it was released (in 1991). I skipped school for the day, collected the cassette tape, which was on order at Roxy Records & roamed around town  till sun set. Back then Funan Center still had tiled floors like some of the wet market you see today. So when darkness descended, I settled down on the Singapore River bank facing Victoria Theatre & listened to Blind twice before heading home. I remembered clearly seeing a shooting star up in the sky above what was then the Westin Stamford. They say if you wish upon a shooting star, your wish would come true. Now if only I remember what was that wish.