The Showdown has gone through some changes since they first hit the scene back in 2002. Originally, this Tennessee based act played a combination of Thrash and Death Metal, incorporated melody into the mix, and brought in a Metalcore sound. Sounds complicated, right? Well, in recent years, the band has taken to their more Southern roots and started to release material of a more straight forward Heavy Metal nature, but didn't necessarily drop the Metalcore influence the earlier material showed. This is the case with Blood in the Gears, which makes for an impressive Metal release from The Showdown, enhanced nicely by inspirations from such Southern Rock and Metal acts like Pantera (minus the Groove aspect) and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
It's hard to really sit down and explain this new effort by The Showdown, as it's nothing that original, but it will still impress you greatly. The release starts off with the sound of a motorcycle reving up, the idling, with the music of "The Man Named Hell" kicking in with a beat similar to the motorcycle's idling noise, which carries on through the start of the song. The music utilized here if very familiar, though hard to put an exact comparison to it, taking inspiration from some of today's more heavier Hard Rock bands you migth hear on the radio, utilizing an edgier slightly Groove inspired Pantera-esque, or even Lamb of God-esque sound with screaming vocals, and a cleanly sun chorus that retains the southern feel of the music nicely, closing with a decent Breakdown, proving the band's musical roots are still long from forgotten. While this is a very energetic opening track, it moves at a mid-tempo pace, but there are plenty of faster songs on this release that impress far greater, as well as some slower songs like the following "Heavy Lies the Crown", which is a decent song but just feels like it takes too much from the previous song as far as the approach and overall sound is concerned, and simply just isn't one of the star songs on the release.
"Take Me Home" is where the band's Southern Rock influences really start to show, as the material seems to take from classic acts in the style, such as the aforementioned Lynyrd Skynyrd. The song is a slower paced track, but still features a screaming vocal style throughout. This vocal approach, however, is mostly to add some impact to the music, having more of Thrash harmonization going on, but cleaner, and mixed with singing that dorns a good majority of the song, offering up a somewhat nostalgic and saddening atmosphere to the song. "Diggin' My Own Grave" is a much lighter track at first, featuring acoustic guitars and gives off an atmosphere similar to that of "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, leaving listeners expecting to hear them belt out the song in a similar fasgion, but the Southern sound to the music, and background ambience utilized makes this track stand out on it's own, especially when the music kicks in from the acoustic ballad sound to amp up the power of the music without losing any of the bite that the acoustic portion had. Of course, this is the only track on the release that has a strong Hard Rock feel to it. The rest carries a strong blend of Heavy Metal with a slight Groove aspect, but even the Groove elements that exist aren't always used. "Dogma Enthroned", for example, has a very strong traditional Heavy Metal atmosphere and composition to it, backed by a highly energetic performance, but the guitars have a little more complexity to them that would be reminiscent of the Groove composition, but seem to only be used during the main verses, as well as bridges and solos. There are a good number of tracks like this, though there are some, like "The Man Named Hell" that really hammer away at that concept.
"No Escape" stands nicely on it's own too, having some great Heavy Metal riffs going on through much of the song, but utilizing more of a Melodic Death Metal Approach to the chorus that could be loosely compared to some of the more melodic aspects of The Autumn Offering. Of course, "Bring It Down", easily one of the best tracks off the release, makes for a powerful Heavy Metal track, moving along at a breakneck speed with a great guitar solo that perfectly suits the intensity and speed the track breathes. Of course, the solos are on eof the things on this album that really stands out, next to the slight Southern feel of course, and becomes one of the reasons to listen to Blood in the Gears, nicely matching the overall energy of the band's performances on each track, and nicely suiting the overall musical approach that the band takes for each song.
Blood in the Gears isn't one of the most original albums out there, but they do a nice job of mixing up some of their obvious inspirations in this release to create a sound that is a fresh breath into the quickly growing repetitive idol worship of many bands that try to emulate the Southern sound through a Metalcore or Groove Metal concept. The Showdown but on an energetic performance, which really just ehances the material so much more and makes it so much more enjoyable, leaving nothing to sound robotic or like filler material. The music on Blood in the Gears manages to be a very accessable release for many, catering to those who enjoy hard hitting songs with powerful screams and driving, pounding riffs, to those who enjoy melody in the mix and even bring a lighter tone in with some great singing vocals and lighter, yet still complex guitars and drums. If you were sketch on the previous efforts by The Showdown, then this is a release that you should seriously consider checking out, as this is simply not the same material the band's earlier recordings consisted of.
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