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Crawling out of a swamp in deepest darkest Tennessee, The Showdown are five piece who are (and I�m quoting here); �just trying to bring back masculine; we�re trying to take the sensitive guy out, and bring back the BAD BOY back!�. And take it from me, I don�t think they mean that in the P Diddy sense of the word either.
When a press release scream that; �six of the tracks features a cow bell and every song has an epic guitar solo� you will probably get just an inkling that The Showdown aren�t just another group of fringe sporting, horn rimmed glasses wearing emo boys. In actual fact, with plaid shirts tied around the waist of stone washed jeans with missing knees, you could go as far as to say that The Showdown exist to revive 1980�s rock for the modern masses.
Head Down is straight up Def Leppard for the 21st century. While Skid Row�s influence on vocals being slightly more subtle, there is nothing reserved about this lots embrace of all that is two decades old, well apart from trapper keepers and hyper-colour t shirts.
It should be noted that for all the old school influence, this is not hair metal; The Showdown are a band who aren�t ashamed of all the cheesy elements of power rock, but manage to fuse it with more brutal influences like Pantera and Anthrax. Nowhere is this more evident than on Fanatics and Whores. Complete with screeching harmonics that would make Zakk Wylde sit up and applaud, the chugging break downs will crush hardcore kids at every turn.
But the purists among you may take issue with the band�s totally unabashed addiction to melodic anthems, as Carry On Wayward Son screams its sing-along vibe at you with acoustic guitars, wailing solos, driving drum beats and even the word �juggernaught� in the lyrics. We Die Young is a pleasant, but slightly softer slice of hard rock, and while the somewhat repetitively chugging guitars might grate on more progressive music lovers, the melody in David Bruntons gruff vocals should keep you more than happy for the duration of the duller moments, which incidentally are nearly always followed up by a jaw dropping solo (or two!).
There are ballads too (oh come on, don�t act so surprised!) with It Drinks From Me being the bitter-sweetest on offer; a melody laden memory of alcohol addiction, which cuts through with ten times more integrity than Nickelback ever managed to muster, even if this does sounds as tacky at times.
If you are floundering for acts to swirl your mosh pit starved head to in the deluge of twenty word song titled whiny rock outfits currently on offer, The Showdown will certainly meet your needs. If you love your hard rock with melody and muchos clich�s, supplemented by the all important chequered shirt tied round your waist (or just wish you could pull that look off.) then this band is defiantly for you.
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