Corrosion of Conformity are burly metal trailblazers whose famously rabid fanbase includes the likes of Metallica and Dave Grohl. Their story begins in the early ’80s in Raleigh, NC: After cutting their teeth on the hardcore punk scene, they unleashed two devastatingly chaotic albums, Eye for an Eye and Animosity, that ignited the crossover thrash movement. Retooling their lineup—something that would become commonplace for the group—CoC slowed down their attack on 1991’s Blind and laid the foundation for sludge metal in the process. They shapeshifted yet again for the 1994 release Deliverance, a Southern-fried slab of Black Sabbath worship that, in addition to producing a pair of hard-rock classics in “Albatross” and “Clean My Wounds,” played a crucial role in putting stoner metal on the commercial map. CoC’s 21st-century output maintains their furious pummel. Arriving in 2012, Corrosion of Conformity reinjects their sound with the hardcore speed of their earliest work, while 2018’s No Cross No Crown serves as further proof that these lifers are some of the mightiest riff lords of their generation.