Review by Ritchie Birnie for MPM
Back in 2020 Corey Taylor released one of the best albums in CMFT. It was diverse, eclectic and a long way from the Slipknot Brutality and I fuckin loved it. Fast forward three years and he has only gone and done it again with the follow up CMF2.
This man is talent personified and saw him take on vocal, electric and acoustic guitar, mandolin and piano duties. If this is an insight into Corey’s psych be very, very scared. No track follows the path of the one prior and there is no time to settle as he has so many musical plates spinning at the same time but not once does this come off as hurried, broken or distorted (except where it is meant to be)…brilliance is both beautiful to witness and awe inspiring.
The album opens with a simple mandolin plucking and has a feel of an Irish or Scottish folk song. It has a brooding attitude with a Beatles tripped out feel. A short, sharp introduction to begin but hold onto your chairs people as all hell lets loose on “Post Traumatic Blues” and this one is defiantly for the Slipknot fans as it comes at you like a jackhammer. The juddering riff is there to tear at your eardrums and Corey’s vocals leave you defiled.
The big switch up is the chorus is as catchy as hell. The bass line is like a defibrillator and the whole song is obscene, chaotic and a thing of beauty.
Time for some modern day punk on “Talk Sick”. This has early Guns‘n’Roses all over it. This has that bands early urgency, the danger, the volatility and guitar work to kill for.
After that furious two pronged attack it is all slowed down for “Breath of Fresh Smoke”. I believe this is for Corey’s wife and if your loved all the diverse stuff on the first album this almost country banger will have you hooked. A song that got Corey hooked on acoustic guitar again and a song that has been in the wings for some time.
All change again and on “Beyond” we have a Rock monster. It is a beast of a track. Blistering guitars, incredible melodies and Corey vocals that demand your attention. I am already in love with this album and I am not even halfway in.
With a simple punk spat out vocal opening “We are the Rest” before bursting into a catchy mutherfucker of a tune. Corey lets loose on guitars again and almost bursts into Rap with an aggressive assault. Another classic.
Time to get moody and broody on “Midnight”. You will instantly notice that Snuff vibe, Corey at his Vocal best. The music takes a back step to the story before it lets rip and tears fore with guitaristic vengeance. The song builds and layers as the desperation of the story builds.
“Starmate” opens with a very open corey with just a strumming guitar and a vocal strained with emotion before we get an “Oh Fuck” and we head to the 90s punk rock vaults. We have a huge whoooooah that is just waiting for an audience to scream. Full force excellence.
Back to the acoustic on “Sorry Me” and these stripped down songs are sublime. This is no doubt an introverted look at Corey’s soul and it is screaming for you to listen, to help, to understand and to take heed. This is a brutally honest and haunting number.
Now that the demons are released lets get our rock on in “Punchline”. It is even tempo throughout and another look at life and its many tricks. It finishes in a flurry of noise and twisted vocals.
With a title like “Someday I’ll Change Your Mind” you can expect a slower number which opens with just a piano and then filters into an Indie anthem. There are colours of Bryan Adams in this upbeat track. From the darkness that has gone before this song will lift you, fill you with hope and joy and this is a song for an open road on a summers day.
From the happiness to “All I Want is Hate” and its asylum opening. I can see inmates smashing their heads of the walls especially as the song kicks in and Corey sings that title at you. There is not a person alive who will not agree that All Corey wants is hate as he spits, dismembers and decapitates the English vocabulary and your sensibilities. This song is a bloody lyrical seance conducted by Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson and Alice Cooper.
I wonder if the “Dead Flies” are lying next to the bodies that the previous song conjured up. This song has an Alice Cooper menace about it. The song soars as it builds to the worrying lyrics the likes of dead flies are the only thing left around you and silence keeps your stitches tight. With chilling words like that you would expect some Slipknot desolation but it is more straight forward rock and the way Corey sings these lines happily is pretty worrying.
Corey Taylor is a one off. He has built a career with Slipknot, he has graced the largest of stages and rocked a hell of a lot of faces. He has slipped sideways into Stone Sour without breaking his stride and ploughed a completely different path and now he has just let his demons out and gotten his creative juices flowing.
The solo stuff is a Corey that we would never have seen in his other bands, he has cracked open his heart and soul on these two albums and you get the feel it is cathartic for him and all the more so as it has been applauded by pundits and punters alike.
CMFT is the being of Corey Taylor and that is both bright and very, very dark but all the while brilliant. This is the perfect next chapter to the solo Corey journey and I for one cannot wait to see this all unfold when I finally get to see him play solo for the first time and with the tracks from this album I know it is going to be a memorable, sweaty, emotional and fucking ace show!
CMF2 Album Tracklist:
- The Box
- Post Traumatic Blues
- Talk Sick
- Breath Of Fresh Smoke
- Beyond
- We Are The Rest
- Midnight
- Starmate
- Sorry Me
- Punchline
- Someday I’ll Change Your Mind
- All I Want Is Hate
- Dead Flies
Artist VIP pre-sale tickets and packages go on-sale starting Tuesday, May 16 at 12pm EST. Password: CMF2
General on-sale is Friday, May 19 starting at 10am local time.
For tour and ticket information, visit: https://www.coreytaylor.com/
The CMFT band is:
Corey Taylor (vocals/guitar)
Zach Throne (rhythm/lead guitars)
Dustin Robert (drums)
Christian Martucci (rhythm/lead guitar
“Beyond” is OUT NOW: https://coreytaylor.lnk.to/BeyondYT
‘CMF2’ is out 9/15 – Pre-Order/Pre-Save NOW: https://coreytaylor.lnk.to/CMF2ID
Website: https://www.coreytaylor.com/
Instagram: http://instagram.com/coreytaylor
Twitter: http://twitter.com/CoreyTaylorRock
Facebook: http://facebook.com/TheCoreyTaylor
