You wouldn’t think you would get much of a crowd on a Tuesday night, but recently, the Rockhouse in El Paso, Texas, has been filling the house each night. This week, it was Corrosion of Conformity; they are currently touring with Alice Cooper and Judas Priest, but made a pitstop in El Paso to perform. They had three local openers for the night. 

Opening for Corrosion of Conformity was Black Wolf Howl, coming back to the rock scene after about a 10-year hiatus, Lazy Crow, a band with stacked local talent, and one of the town’s favorites, Ojo Malo, who brings a fresh new look at dark sludge metal with every performance.  

Corrosion of Conformity, or better known as COC, formed in 1982 in the Raleigh, North Carolina, punk metal scene. As they became more popular, they slowed things down to be more of a heavy metal sound. The four-member band has seen a lot of changes of the lineup over the years, but lead guitarist Woody Weatherman is the constant original member of the band. With Pepper Keenan, lead vocalist and rhythm guitar, the voice of the band has been with them since the late ’80s and has continued to bring solid heavy metal sounds to their music. Stanton Moore, drummer, and Bobby Landgraf, bassist, were both added in the 2000’s, with Landgraf being the newest member joining them in 2024. 

COC has released 12 albums, with the latest being 2021’s Blind Extended Version, which is a re-release of a 1991 album titled Blind with six extra songs. There are rumors that there will be a new release in 2025, but as of this being written, I could not find any confirmation of that. So, we will have to see what the last few months of the year bring us from COC.  

COC hit the stage facing a full floor of fans from stage to soundboard, opening the show with “Bottom Feeder,” followed by “King of the Rotten,” both tracks from their 1996 release Wiseblood. The third song, “Seven Days,” was from the 1994 album Deliverance. They gave us a full tour of their work, and the crowd was riveted by every song. The night was surprisingly great, with a good mix of music for everyone.  

I had a unique experience of capturing COC twice in one week. It was not planned that way, but after submitting to cover this show, I found out that in another town they would be opening for Judas Priest and Alice Cooper. Look forward to that review soon. In the meantime, check out these links to learn more about this great band:

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