Throwdown "Haymaker" CD
[Trustkill]
They're called Throwdown. What do you expect? Melody? Clean guitar breaks? Catchy singing vocals during the choruses? Fuck no. Brutal metalcore with tons of chugga chugga, lots of mosh, huge breakdowns... exactly what the name implies. At various points in time these cats have had in their ranks members of Eighteen Visions, Death by Stereo, and Bleeding Through, but not being a follower of any of those bands I have no idea if anyone in their current lineup is still in another band or two, but I don't care. This is a really straightforward record, there really aren't any twists or surprises. It sounds very similar to Hatebreed in most cases, with more texture and slower rhythms, sometimes venturing into territory that reminds me a little bit of Pantera (no shit) or start/stop riffing that has a tiny bit of a Meshuggah (gone way stripped down) influence. "Nothing Left" features some guest vocals from Scott Vogel (Terror) and "The Only Thing" has some guest vocals from Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory, but more importantly the ex-vocalist of Shai Hulud), but those are the only minor "variations" in vocal delivery. "Hate for the Weak" is by far and away the absolute best song on this disc, though. It's a little bit melodic (barely), but the chorus is memorable as fuck and the chord progressions and arrangements are a lot more energetic and catchy somehow. Fucking classic. If the whole record was as good as this song I'd shit myself... even if it is cheesy as hell to say stuff like "Fuck that shit, open this pit up!" on a studio recording. As for the production, it's alright, but the bass needs more definition big time. Right now the guitars have an unusual texture in that they're really heavy but have a rough edge, and the bass is just a muddy sort of throb resting underneath. The vocals also need to fall back in with the music, as in my opinion the vocals lack genuine anger and feel a little bit forced on many occasions, and it takes awhile to get used to the strained shouting of the delivery (possibly due to their placement). The drums sound pretty damn nice, and overall the record sounds really good after your ears adjust. It could be better is all. Despite the fact that the layout revolves around photos of a burly, tattooed hardcore dude wearing no shirt, a studded belt, and baggy jeans wrapping his hands up and throwing punches... it actually looks pretty fucking awesome. Hell, it does look really fucking awesome, it's one of the best looking records I've seen in awhile. I like the colors, I like the bloody textures, I like the fonts and the arrangement, the photography is well done... sue me. The lyrics are bitter and pretty typical, covering all the bases from respect and revenge to staying true to yourself and your friends, being straightedge, taking no shit, etc. It's been done before, and nothing really hits me as particularly interesting. It's also hard to take sporadically violent/toughguy lyrics seriously coming from a bunch of kids from Orange County, CA whose own bio admits that their average height is less than 6' and their average weight is around 150, know what I mean? I don't know, I've actually seen some skinny dudes lay down some fuckin' beatings in my time, so... whatever. I like this record for the most part, so that's all I give a shit about. A few tracks are fairly weak but other than that it's a consistent offering. (7/10)
Running time - 41:00 (approximately), Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Nothing Left, Declare the War, Hate for the Weak, Raise Your Fist]
Trustkill Records - http://www.trustkill.com

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