The Showdown reviewed
The Showdown
Back Breaker
(Solid State)
Nashville’s The Showdown are a metal band. Just ask ’em. In the one-sheet for Backbreaker (Solid State) “metal” is used 10 times.
Appearing: Thursday, October 30th at Metro in Chicago.
Granted, that could be an overzealous PR person or bio writer, but consider nearly half of those references are frontman Dave Bunton direct quotes. 1 and 2: “Are we gonna give in to these outside forces or are we gonna commit to heavy metal? With this record, there’s no question we committed to heavy metal.” 3: “The sum of our band’s raw power, aggression, and total dedication to heavy metal.” 4: “We’re not just committed to metal, we’re committed to doing it in a way that means something.”
Problem is, Showdown committed itself to shitty metal. Definitely not Metallica and Pantera metal, which the bio writer actually hints at, saying “it’s no overstatement to say that The Showdown have made their own Black Album, achieved their own Vulgar Display Of Power.”
Seriously? That kind of statement could get your band’s ass kicked by certain factions of neanderthal, meathead headbangers. There are 50 bands on Victory Records alone that sound like this chunky riff hardcore/metal hybrid stuff . . . and 25 of them do it better. Bunton apparently drew lyrical inspiration for this album through his long-standing interest in Greek mythology . . . or Hatebreed
Want fucking metal? Want Greek mythology? Lair Of The Minotaur, dudes.
– Trevor Fisher
