| CD REVIEW Throwdown |
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Band : Throwdown We at Concrete Web first came in contac with this Orange County based band in 2007 when they released their Venom & Tears album through Trustkill Records, whom had signed a licencing deal with German label/ distributor SPV, the latter in turn having signed a deal for distribution with the Benelux department of CNR (at the office of which our editor-in-chief holds a seat). Reviewed by then collegue Trik, the album got a very summary but to-the-point short article, in which the band’s history was completely missing! Well, I have to say there’s a lot of bands whose history is far easier to explain, because in the case of Throwdown you not only get a change in musical direction from Hardcore to an ever more Metal-fused one, towards the sounds of last-days Cavalera-era Sepultura, Pantera, early Metallica, and Crowbar (starting with their Vendetta album, which Revolver Magazine at which point the magazine called the band as part of “The Future Of Metal”)…but also a constant shifting of members, both by replacements as by shifts within the band (to the point of the current line-up holding none of the original members)! Members of the band have often been occupied with other bands as well, or did guest appearances on other artists’ albums! Trying to make a long story short, and concentrating on the band’s releases, it all started in 1997 with singer Keith Barney (see also Death By Stereo, Adamantum, and Eighteen Visions), guitarists Javier Van Huss & Tommy Love, bassist Dom Malacuso, and drummer Marc Johnson, the line-up with which they recorded the self-titled debut single (issued through Prime Directive Records) that same year. After signing to Indecision Records, the band released their 1998 debut full-length Beyond Repair, with Brandan Schiepatti (later in Bleeding Through) in stead of Van Huss. 2000’s EP Drive Me Dead had currently longest surviving member David Peters in stead of Schiepatti, and in the same line-up the band recorded 2001’s sophomore album You Don’t Have To Be Blood To Be Family, and their contribution to the Radical Records compilation album Hardccore Takes The Rap in the form of a Metalled-up version of Sir Mix A Lot’s hit single “Baby Got Back”. 2002’s EP Face The Mirror featured Ken Floyd on drums (in between, Barney had switched from vocals to guitar because he always lost his voice during touring, so Peters also took over lead vocal duties, and Matt Mentley would fill in for Barney, whenever he wasn’t available due to activities with Eighteen Visions). In the line-up of Peters (vocals), Malacuso (bass), Love & Barney (guitars), plus session drummer Jarred Alexander, the band recorded their breakthrough album Haymaker. Side-projects came along (Peters with Medic; Love & Malacuso with The Lost – which released an EP on Indecision rather remeniscent of HIM; but none of these two lasted very long, while on the other hand Barney started focussing on 18V much more). 2004 becomes really confusing: Barney is officially replaced by Mentley, whom makes a pact with Peters and Malacuso to commit to touring and recording. Love commits to that summer’s Ozzfest only. After a tour of japan with a fill-in drummer, that year’s European tour served as introduction of new drummer Ben Dussault, and former drummer Marc Johnson served as fill-in for Love on those tours. Then came Ozzfest, and after more tours Love officially left the band at the end of the year, on good terms. Recorded under the supervision of producer Zeus, it’s hardly surprising Vendetta showed that many Metal elements.new to the band at that moment, guitarist Marc Choiniere. The Sounds From the Underground tour ensued, then headlined a tour in the Fall which was to be Malacuso’s last. Mentley changed to bass, leaving Choiniere on all guitar duties in the live setting. The band remained a 4-piece ever since. Plenty of high-profile touring followed (Vans Warped, Download Festival, co-headliner with Black Dahlia Murders in Australia & South America, etc…), and then came the Venom & Tears album, recorded with producer Mudrock, and a furthering of the band’s musical direction into Metal-land. Mentley left the band in the Fall of 2007, following a support tour with Machine Head…and his replacement Marc Mitchell made his live debut with the band on South-American dates during December. 2007 saw the band tour a lot again (Scume Of the Earth tour first, then an Australian trek with Korn, a Canadian trip with Killswitch Engage, Download and other European festivals & shows, and eventually a US trip with Cavalera Conspiracy). In March 2008 the band’s contract with Trustkill ended, and they took their time checking their options before signing to Koch Records in December of the same year. In the same announcement that stated the band’s working on their latest full-length album, they also announced that session drummer Jarrod Alexander would be returning to the band for the new album. Recordings starting in late April 2009, the band again worked with Mudrock as producing…and the new album is simply a perfection of their musical leanings. Check/ compare for yourselves at myspace.com/throwdown, where the band have no less than 10 songs posted, 3 of which are from the new album! In my own opinion, this is a must-have for anyone into the bands mentioned in the first paragraph of this article, and certainly for those believing in the “Dimebarrel legacy”. Deathless tears at the listeners’ guts from start to finish, with Peters’ soaring screams and vocal antics sustained by great catchy heavy riffing, in which plenty of space for lead guitar volleys and quirky details is not alien…nor the flowing speed-up, calm-down alternating passages! Wonderful album, more than deserving to be entered in my year-lists! Will have to be the 2009 edition again, though! Touring in support of the new album has already begun. In November & December 2009, Throwdown allied with Bury Your Dead, Abacab, and The World We Know for a headline tour. The States’ southern venues will be graced (for details, if needed, check the MySpace page) on the the mont’s worth headline tour which the band kicks off on January 22, taking in tow Five Finger Death Punch and Shadows Fall. Perhaps Europe comes after…or possibly the band is “saving their strength” for the European Summer fesivals, eh? 98/100 Tony. |