JUNE 17th 2026
CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
Review by Metallic Barbie
Photos by Peter Ruttan
PICTURE GALLERY BELOW
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Where were you Friday, July 17? If you weren’t at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver, BC, you weren’t living your metal life to the fullest!
An explosive trio of acts pummelled the stage (and earholes), ripping this coastal city a new fault line. Crobot were first up, the Pennsylvanian grungy-groove hard rock quad fronted by Brandon Yeagley, a man decidedly possessed by the notes summoned by guitarist Christopher Bishop, and brothers Willie (bass) and Nico (drums) Jansen. The commanding howls and writhing gyrations form Yeagley turned any skeptics into believers as they tore through “Battle Cry”, “Trouble (Looking for You)” and closer “Nowhere To Hide”, to name a few.
Whores had their work cut out for them as they aimed to transition from the gritty, danceable Crobot riffs to their more sludgy, hardcore sound. But that didn’t daunt Christian Lembach (vocals, guitar), Casey Maxwell (bass) nor Douglas Barrett (drums), who immediately set to upping the noise factor, bending strings and piecing off chunks of hearty basslines paired with domineering drums. Having only four releases since their 2010 formation, the cross-section worked for both old and new fans, the room vibrating with the ravenousness of the crowd for their sonically satisfying Whores.
The sweat-factor ticked up as bodies rolled in for the sell-out show, arriving just before Corrosion of Conformity hit the stage. The air was electric with anticipation and COC cranked right into a single off their new record, Good God/Baad Man, “Asleep on the Killing Floor”. This is risky for a band given the album only dropped in April 2026, but the majority of headbangers were signing right along – all signs pointing the long-awaited release is hitting all the proper tingly spots. Every lick, every finger, every stick and every pic was tight, even with half the band only jumping in the last two years. You’d expect veterans Pepper Keenan (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Woody Weatherman (lead guitar, backing vocals) to play off each other like one another’s appendage, but the absolute cohesion of their newest additions Bobby Landgraf (bass, backing vocals), and Nick Shabatura (drums) was incredible.
The band tore through a killer setlist dominated by new tracks including partial title track “Baad Man” and “Gimme Some Moore”, ‘peppered’ (check that!) with classics like “13 Angels”, “Who’s Got the Fire”, “Vote With a Bullet”, and beloved Deliverance tracks including “My Grain”, “Albatross”, and encore “Clean My Wounds”. It’s been a while since I watched and heard a crowd so absolutely enthralled with a performance, meaning COC delivered exactly what Vancouver was looking for: total and absolute audio penetration. If a beat were skipped by a single member, only the band would have noticed as the guitars shred, the bass rumbled and the drums thundered, complete with raging, wrathful vocals, embracing the crowd in a studded swath.
Corrosion have returned with a fury, and they are coming for each and every metalhead lucky enough to snag a ticket. All I can say is do me over, and over, and over CO-fucking-C!!