A Chorus Of Obliteration is The Showdown’s debut album and was originally released in 2004 by Mono Vs. Stereo Records. Apparently it took a while before they got more known out there but now that they are, their album has been released by Century Media worldwide. The good thing for their fans; you can expect the next album of these Tennessee metallers on February 26^th.

 

I hear so many styles within this music that I just can’t come up with a decent comparison to another band. Which is a very good thing in my opinion! Sometimes I hear some Trivium (Ascendancy) influences while another moment I hear more old-skool Metallica tunes through the music. And also death metal and metalcore occurs in most tracks. Many of those different influences can be heard in for example ‘From The Mouth Of Gath Comes Terror’, which is a very diverse song without actually being chaotic.

 

For some reason I keep thinking about the Trivium-Ascendancy period. I think The Showdown has quite some influences of an evolved version of Trivium during their Ascendancy period. I mean, think of where Trivium would be now if they had continued their style used on their previous albums and that’s kinda like where The Showdown pops up. Then imagine numerous other genres being mixed through and you get yourself a band that knows how to play real metal; The Showdown. I think ‘Iscariot’ pretty much represents the style I just mentioned. 

 

Not that this is everything though. Cause on this album full of great metal songs, there’s also some space for an acoustic track (‘Laid To Rest’). Which is, in contradiction to what you might think, a good song that even fits the album. And if you don’t like acoustic songs, don’t worry! In the middle of this song there’s an (electronic) eruption that’ll make up for the acoustic part.

 

I think The Showdown is one of those highly underrated bands that deserve much more attention. They know how to combine about every style I’d like to listen to and still have their own sound. Just check it out if this review caught your attention ‘cause I think this is one of those bands that many of you will like. Regardless your daily preferences. Metal!