Review Summary: The Showdown is back full force with a 11-track heavy metal journey that will blow your mind away
When A CHORUS OF OBLITERATION hit shelves in 2001, it obviously received some attention, regarding that fact that they were signed to Mono VS Stereo Records rather quickly, and were told to re-record ACOO so that the mayhem found in the disc would be spawned to stores across the United States of America. Europe loved The Showdown as well, and signed them to Century Media, making them re-re-record ACOO AND add a few other songs, including "Give Us This Day".
Then, in late 2005, early 2006, they went back to the studio to record their followup album TEMPTATION, which was later changed to TEMPTATION, COME MY WAY. After an unexplained one-year hiatus, they released TCMW, and both gained and lost fans. Many unpleaseable fans hated the change from Death Metal to Southern Metal, and swore that they would never listen ot The Showdown again if they put out another album like Temptation, Come My Way.
Obviously, The Showdown got the hint. After leaving Mono VS Stereo, and joining Solid State, they released what may have been the best release of 2008.....BACK BREAKER.
Let me talk about the album art real quick. It is killer. Extremely disturbing, but inspirational as well, showing that no matter the circumstance in your life, you can still walk forward with a vengeance.....wearing a loin-cloth. Inside the case, the album art gets even crazier with close-up shots of the dude's chest, arms, and back with blood EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!! The disc itself is rather boring though. It looks just like Temptation's disc, except the letters are gold instead of black.
Let's get onto the music, shall we?
The album opens up with "The Beginning" (unless you bought it on iTunes, and only chose a couple of songs because your screamo friends said it wasn't hardcore enough YOU BIG LOSER!!!) which is entirely instrumental, with a sick southern guitar solo that is as sick as a guitar solo can sickingly be sick enough to be acknowledged as a sick guitar solo that is southernly sick.
The track leads into "The Hammer of the Gods", a whopping track full of double-bass drum pedaling, extreme low-growling, and thumping bass. haha. yeah. They even put in a heavy breakdown twice in the song, to satisfy your emo hunger.
Go through the album, and it never gets boring. It never seems repetitive to me, and I've listened to the thing over 70 times. "The Fires of Deliverance" is a real nice southern track, while "I Am Vengeance" is a real intense track which defines what heavy metal is all about.
"You Will Move" is the only song I don't really care for. The lyrics leave a bad taste in my mouth, and the song overall is just plain-out filler. But the next song "Give Us This Day" is probably my favorite on the cd. It's probably the closest thing on this cd you will get to their old and gone days.
The vocals are miles better than their previous efforts, keeping the rough and edgy vocals from TCMW, and keeping the dominant screams form ACOO. Many might be disappointed for David Bunton trying to hard with his singing voice, but his growl is amazing.
The guitar work is killer. Not so much speed medal, but more thrash than anything. The drums remind me alot of As I Lay Dying's, with the constant double-bass drum rhythmic patterns.
So, great cd. Pick it up, check 'em out when they come to your town, and anticipate their next release.
