"Blood in the Gears" is a step in the right direction for The Showdown.
After their 2007 album “Temptation Come My Way”, the Tennessean based band The Showdown found a heavy groove and seemed to please a rock of heavy metal and hard rock fans as well. The band’s next album, “Back Breaker”, was a throwback to the band’s roots with blazing riffage and much heavier vocals than the previous album.
After taking some time off, the band is back with the brand new “Blood in the Gears”, which leans more on the sound of “Back Breaker”, but stays accessible enough to still keep the fans of “Temptation” happy.
Lead singer David Bunton sounds as a man unhinged and in the zone on the opener “The Man Named Hell” and “Heavy Lies The Crown”. Bunton’s vocals stay clean enough to understand everything, but keeps enough of a piercing growl to his vocals and successfully steers clear of the metalcore trappings many bands of the genre continue to milk. He almost goes for a Brian Fair (Shadows Fall) styled vocal on “Bring It Down” that shows some range beyond most of the other songs on the album.
Guitarist Josh Childers turns “Blood” into a thrash-fest that keeps the album entertaining and delivers the perfect enhancement to the vocals on the album. Defintely check out “No Escape” and “The Crooked Path” for the full range of Childers’ show stealing work on the album.
In retrospect, “Back Breaker” was a bit disappointing and really didn’t give the listener a good combination of the southern hard rock groove and thrash metal, but the Showdown definitely has bridged the gap with “Blood in the Gears” and continue to be one of the more vibrant bands on Solid State Records. The tracks on “Blood” could be just what the band needs to make that next big step.
