THROWDOWN – Vendetta

From the USA underground comes the quartet Throwdown, playing a relatively aggressive mix of Hardcore with a scent of Melodic Death thrown in for good measure. Although the music is not of the most technical kind, the band, consisting of Dave Peters on vocals, Matt Mentley on guitars, Dom Macaluso on bass, and Ben Dussault on drums, seems solid, and especially the rhythm section sound tight and precise. Peters’ aggressive vocals also sound convincing, and Mentley definitely has some cool riffs up his sleeve, although nothing groundbreaking in terms of originality.

Things start off quite good with “We Will Rise” and “Speak The Truth,” both, of which, are good tracks – “We …” being more straight ahead Hardcore than “Speak …,” which is a bit more on the basic Heavy Metal side and has plenty of good riffs to offer. The title track, “Vendetta,” has an almost Punk-ish feel to it, and this works great, making the track one of the stand outs.

“Burn” is more straight ahead Hardcore, and is another good effort … the slow part at about the 2:15 mark is especially cool, and the track as a whole works very well.

“Discipline” is possibly the song that sounds the most European out of the album’s eleven numbers, as one easily can hear the influence from the two latest In Flames albums in the riffing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t rescue the song from being one of Vendetta’s weakest. “To Live Is To Sacrifice” will never be a milestone in the history of music either, although it has some good riffing in between, for example at about the 2:30 mark.

After two weaker tracks, it may seem like the band has lost the inspiration halfway through, but luckily “Give My Life” shows that this is not the case. The song opens with a 70’s sounding riff, and when this track demonstrates a strong Punk influence, it becomes quite cool. A good song indeed that also offers a guitar solo, which, not surprisingly, is in the Slayer/Napalm Death vein, relying more on sheer aggression than musical perfection.

“The World Behind” continues this good trend, although it’s not all the way up there with the very best of the bunch. Again, Mentley pulls off some cool, Heavy Metal-style riffs, and together with powerful vocals and a good chorus, this is what makes the track worth listening. This track also features one of the album’s two guest performers: Howard Jones of Killswitch Engage.

The second guest is F. Sean Martin (Hatebreed) on “Shut You Down,” but he cannot save this straight ahead Hardcore number from being out too far on the boring side.

“Annihilation (N.W.D.),” on the other hand, is far better, as the song’s slow beat, simple riffing, and cool drumming makes for a very interesting mix … maybe this is where the album should have ended, as the uptempo and very angry “This is Where It Ends” cannot compete with its predecessor in any way.

This also illustrates the foremost letdown with this album — it is far too uneven in terms of the sheer quality of the tracks. The band is solid and songs like the opening trio and “Give My Life” show that the band definitely has potential. They should work a bit harder on coming up with something completely unique –- maybe use more of the cool Punk/Heavy Metal influences that shine through from time to time, and this band can be an act to look out for in the years to come.