The Tennessee born and rased band release their second album to remind us that metal music cannot afford to forget its origins. They had been preparing this move for more than two years and it seems as they were waiting for the perfect timing to pump our veins with clear metal sounds using the syringe of nostalgia for the 80s straight into the metalheads' memory lane. Make no mistake; Temptation Come My Way is no placebo.
My inner depressed urge to label anything that moves in the metal scene cries out that The Showdown are a metalcore band with a southern rock accent. I hate to admit that this sounds just about right. However things were somewhat different a few years back when they were a Pop/Punk band named 2540, which is also a reference to Matthew 25:40 from the Bible! That's right! Ok, you may pull your jaws up again. The starting line up were brothers Daniel and Jeremy Swain on drums and guitar with Travis Bailey on bass and David Bunton on vocals. Soon Josh Chliders joined when the Swain brothers left the band due to school and job reasons, Travis switched to guitar with Andrew Hall coming in to sit behind the drums. Their 2004 debut album A Chorus of Obliteration was a mix of heavy guitar riffs, screams and amazing bass and drum lines, drawing also from 80's to early 90's-era metal like Stryper, Holy Soldier, Iron Maiden, and Guns' n' Roses. Their stories referred to Bible and they were told in an epic lyrical way.
In Temptation Come My Way, the band limits their sound down to the necessary roars and screams that are toned down compared to their previous album and bring forward some powerful riffs that bring flashes of Pantera, Anthrax and Megadeth. The production provided by Paul Ebersold (Three Doors Down, Saliva) is top-notch and shows how carefully this album was put together over the past two years. The lyrics cover real life experiences with David Bunton performing quite well on both melodic and heavy parts showing off the edginess in his voice when needed to pump up the volume. With the guitar line ranging from melodic to classic metal riffs and the occasional intense solos, every song seems to be destined for radio audiencies and I am very interested in testing their skills in live appearances, although rumour has it that they give a 110% mean show every time.
Trackwise, Breath of Swamp stands out with its aggressive tone whilst do pay attention to the only cover in Temptation Come My Way, Kansas' Carry On Wayward Son and Death Finds Us Breathing. I believe that with Temptation Come My Way, THE SHOWDOWN will definately put some quality for 45 minutes on your CD player and will give you the chance to remember how pure metal intentions really sound like. It is not a milestone must-have album, but it takes all my credit for giving all they have for the metal we love.