In metal there has been so many iconic figures through the decades – Lemmy, Ozzy, Dio, Hetfield just to name a few but since 1999 no one has stood out like Corey Taylor. CMF2 is the second solo album from Corey Taylor and it is THE definitive Corey Taylor album. With elements of Slipknot, Stone Sour and his debut solo album CMFT all mixed into CMF2, the album is everything you could possibly imagine and more.
Starting off with ‘The Box’, CMF2 eases you in with a folk-esque ballad where Taylor plays mandolin and sings “take a breath, enjoy the show” before not giving the chance for anyone to take a breath by firing into ‘Post Traumatic Blues’. With verses barked by Taylor, a huge arena rock chorus and chugging riffs throughout the song it’s certainly a signature Corey Taylor track.
‘Talk Sick’ keeps things heavy before ‘Breath Of Fresh Smoke’ lowers the pace. The track combines layered acoustic and electric guitars perfectly building into choruses where Taylor unleashes one of his best vocal performances on the album. The man could sing pretty much anything and it would sound good, yet there’s something to his vocal performances on slower songs like ‘Snuff’, ‘Through The Glass’ and now ‘Breath Of Fresh Smoke’ that just sets them apart.
‘We Are The Rest’ has a bit of a punk feel sounding like a combination of classic punk bands like The Ramones and The Clash but also having a Green Day vibe. Strange but it somehow works. ‘Starmate’ starts slow before Taylor groans ‘Oh fuck’ and kicks the song into gear. While it’s not as heavy as some of the tracks on the album, it still packs a punch.
‘Sorry Me’ is an acoustic ballad which was the last song to be written for the album. The most melancholic track by far, the lyrics are self-apologetic and is Taylor once again opening himself up for everyone through music. Going from melancholy to full on metal, ‘Punchline’ has a Stone Sour feel up until the bridge and solo. From there it fires into a riff not too dissimilar from Metallica’s ‘The Four Horsemen’ which Taylor screams over.
‘Someday I’ll Change Your Mind’ is another slow burner that could be straight from the 80’s. The retro power ballad feel on this makes it stand out from all the slower tracks on the album, that being said it’s probably the weakest of the slower songs.
From power ballads to a track named ‘All I Want Is Hate’, you can probably see where this one is going. A frantic track that has all the energy of a Slipknot song, it is guaranteed to keep you moving from start to finish. The final track on the album ‘Dead Flies’ is the perfect closer managing to tie the whole albums sound into six minutes. It’s another slow burner but so many tracks on the album are, so it fits well.
CMF2 is Corey Taylor at his best. With hints of everything he’s touched featuring on the album, CMF2 feels like he’s took all of his previous work and reenergised it to create a whole new album and direction. Corey Taylor’s voice has soundtracked the lives of metal heads everywhere since the 90’s, and with CMF2 he’s proved yet again why he is the main man within metal.
