This post will be very concise and to the point: The other day I realized that nearly all metalcore/screamo/post-hardcore videos take place in a grassy field, and I will use this space to list several examples. I don’t know if you have ever tried to make a Wikipedia entry, but it’s really hard because some pedantic nerd/ass hole/etc. will delete it in like two minutes (like when I tried to make a Wiki for wigger slam back in the day), so I feel like MetalSucks is the best venue to document this phenomenon.

[Thanks to tween expert/post-teenager Elise from Reign In Blonde for a couple of these examples]

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We’ve gotten quite a few emails about a newish band called The Famine over the past couple of weeks. I ignored the first couple of emails because I saw the words “Solid State” and “Records” in close proximity to the band’s name, so it took an unprompted but impassioned plea from Josh Childers of The Showdown — one of the only other Solid State bands that doesn’t blow donkey balls — to get me to give a serious listen. Here’s what he sent me:

Yo… legit… right? Underoath / August Burns Red / Gwen Stacy / normal Solid State fare this is not. No bullshit, no breakdowns, no -core suffix; just pure death metal. The Famine might not be shattering any molds, but what they do they do quite well; these guys could hang with Dying Fetus any day. I’m not sure whether The Famine’s lyrical content is Christian, but I honestly don’t care; good music is good music, and I never listen to metal lyrics anyway.

The Architects of Guilt, The Famine’s sophomore Solid State release, will hit stores on February 15th; pre-order it here.

One more tune to stream after the jump:

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It’s like my good pal Axl said — we’re swimming in new music this week! Isn’t the end of August supposed to be a slow time for news? Aren’t you all supposed to be on vacation squeezing in those last weeks in your summer homes on the lake?? Oh, I forgot, it’s metal, and metal never takes a vacation.

Tennessee metallers The Showdown are the latest to join the new music party, as they’re streaming their entire new album Blood in the Gears at AOL Music. As I’ve written before, I prefer their earlier cock-rock inspired work to the heavier material they’ve released of late, but I haven’t disliked anything they’ve put out; it’s just that the newer stuff hasn’t really grabbed me.

But I’m listening to Blood in the Gears all the way through for the first time right now, and it strikes me as a good balance between the hair-inspired riffs of Temptation Come My Way and the all-out heaviness of Back Breaker. I’m hearing a lot of Pantera influence, especially in album opener “The Man Named Hell” — for which the video is posted above… holy crap! awesome way to start an album! try and see past the silly, cliched monster truck / motorcycle imagery — and I like that. The main riff that comprises “No Escape,” in all its No More Tears-era Zakk Wylde glory, is as good as any the band’s ever written. These Tennesseeans really seem to be letting their southern roots shine throughout the album and maybe letting those cock rock influence seep back into their sound, and there’s enough good stuff here to pique my interest. I’m looking forward to sitting down with this album and giving it a good listen.

Check out all of Blood in the Gears here and tell us what you think of it.

-VN

I kind of lost track of The Showdown over the past couple of years. I absolutely loved their 2007 southern-metal-meets-cock-rock Temptation Comes My Way because of the way the band so seamlessly mixed those two styles and melded them into a cohesive, song-focused effort. Their 2008 release Back Breaker was significantly more aggro and heavied the fuck up; gone were the Motley Crue-inspired guitar riffs and hip-swingin’ Southern grooves, and in their place was a whole lotta aggressive, downtuned riffing and double-bass drumming. Despite Back Breaker being a perfectly fine effort — and despite the fact that heavier is usually a good thing — I just couldn’t get into it as much as I had Temptation.

Two years later The Showdown are back with another full-length in Blood In The Gears (August 24th, Solid State); the title track and, most recently, “Heavy Lies the Crown” are both available on their MySpace page. The songs are in the heavier, more modern vein the band moved to with Back Breaker, and while this isn’t necessarily a bad thing it just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as Temptation Come My Way. I know a lot of folks love the band’s pre-Temptation album A Chorus of Obliteration and for them these last two albums probably mark a welcomed return to form… but not for this guy.

Oh well. Tell me why I’m wrong in the comments.

-VN

Vince is really the Mansion’s resident fan of The Showdown, but Vince isn’t here today (all his posts were written in advance of his day out of the office), so I guess it’s up to me to tell you that the band is streaming a new song, “Blood in the Gears,” here. I have no way of knowing what Vince would make of it, but speaking for myself, well, it doesn’t really do anything for me. Then again, I’ve never really be a huge fan of this band, so I’m not really the target audience.

Hopefully Vince will have something more intelligent to say about the song upon his return, but in the meantime, you can check out the track and weigh in with your thoughts below. It’s the title song from the band’s forthcoming offering, which comes out August 24 on Solid State Records.

-AR

I’m not entirely sure why The Showdown don’t get more attention in the metal press, but I surmise it has something to do with the fact that they’re on Solid State, a record label known more for Christian haircut-core than for blazing metal riffs. But The Showdown have blazing metal riffs in spades; I haven’t listened in full to their Summer ’08 record The Backbreaker yet, but what I have heard of the record is way heavier than its excellent, more hard rock-leaning predecessor Temptation Come My Way. There’s also the Christian thing, which probably turns off a lot of metalheads, this writer included; but in the case of The Showdown the riffs are so damn good and the songs so succinct that I just turn off the part of my brain that listens to lyrics. This part of my brain is usually off anyway, but I digress.

All of this is a long-winded way of saying that The Showdown’s new video for “Achilles – The Backbreaker” kicks ass. Visually-speaking it’s a rather plebian attempt, but it showcases the ass-kicking performance aspect of the band’s attack, showcases their chops, and drives this point home: The Showdown are awesome and worthy of any metalhead’s attention.

-VN

Southern hard rock / metallers The Showdown have a new record out August 19th called Backbreaker, and it’s heavier than anything they’ve done so far — not that their prior material wasn’t heavy or was bad by any means (in fact, Temptation Come My Way ranked among my favorite albums of ’07), but the new stuff just hammers. It’s punishingly heavy, but artfully so; other than singer David Bunton’s pectoral-highlighting wardrobe choice, this isn’t a band that seems to feel the need to remind you of its masculinity at every turn. This is just really fucking good heavy music — this time around the band is channeling more Slayer and Metallica than Ratt and Motley Crue, but the results are no less catchy nor do they come across as trend-following. The Showdown have the songwriting maturity of a much, much older band.

Listen to the three new songs on their MySpace page.

-VN

I was a big fan of The Showdown’s late-2006 release Temptation Come My Way, a southern-infused steamroller of an ’80s metal-influenced hard rock record. Judging by the band’s new song “Achilles The Backbreaker” — from their new record Back Breaker, to be released August 19th on Solid State — the band hasn’t dropped their ’80s influence at all, but has moved on from Ratt and Crue-infused riffage to Metallica and Exodus pummeling. No kidding. But this isn’t close to yet another entry in the current re-Thrash trend. Heavier riffs, double-bass pummeling, more screaming vocals. It still sounds distinctly modern and distinctly Showdown. It’s the same band (minus one member), just heavier… Which is a fucking awesome thing if you ask me.

Listen to the new track on The Showdown’s MySpace page. I am officially excited about this record.

-VN

[It’s time for another great edition of Board to Death, in which we examine - and by “examine,” I mean “poke fun at” - what obsessive fans are saying on various band message boards. This week, we take a look at what the Lambgoat snots are saying about southern hard-rock revivalists The Showdown.]

The Showdown recently announced the departure of one of their members and the signing of a new record deal with a yet-to-be-announced label. Lambgoat was there to cover the story, and as usual the haters came out in full force.

“bluescreenofdeath” starts things off with “first post” bragging rights. Really, what is the fascinating with having the first post? Do kids wait around for new stories to go up so they can have the first post? Anyway, “kenny” is quick to chime in 2 minutes and 22 seconds later with “i object to your first post, im first post.” No, actually you aren’t, kenny, sorry.

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