Metal Sunday – Review – The Showdown – Blood In The Gears (Solid State Records)

I keep confusing Showdown with Throwdown – both bands are heavy and both have a serious obsession with Pantera (although both demonstrate it in different ways). But maybe the different approaches stem from two different environments – Throwdown hail from Orange County, Calfornia and Showdown are from Nashville, Tennessee. But lets get back to the subject at hand…
This is Showdown’s fourth full-length (and a follow-up to 2008 “Back Breaker”) and while they’re often tagged as Christian metal band, this CD isn’t terribly different from the rest of their brethren (both atheist and Christian alike). It comes off as slightly formulaic (what’s new about shouted vocals atop crunchy guitar riffs?), but  still appears to be solid as far as modern metal/groove/thrash records go.
Its slightly disappointing to realize that in 2010 there’s not much innovation in metal – there’s still tons of bands influenced by Pantera circa early 90s. In the words of vocalist David Bunton – “”I wear cargo shorts and high top all-stars like Dimebag.” And that’s exactly the type of problem that I see with those sorts of records – nothing new or surprising here, but then maybe genre isn’t exactly known for supporting change. So “Blood” works as a straightforward thrash/metal record – just don’t expect much more from it.
Further Info:  Last.fm / MySpace
Stream the album / listen to it in its entirety
Other reviews: About.com / SMN News /AbsolutePunk / Kik Axe Music