Throwdown
DEATHLESS
E1 Entertainment

Of all the albums I didn’t expect to be a letdown, the latest from Throwdown might have been the leader of the pack.  Simply, after several albums that literally seemed to be picking up the pieces from the now disbanded Pantera, Throwdown throws everyone a curveball and releases an album that sounds closer to metalcore drivel like Mudvayne would put on the table to satisfy the trendy douches that think metal starts and stops with Disturbed.  DEATHLESS is a tired, middle of the road effort that lacks the frustration or rage that previous efforts provided.  

To call DEATHLESS a disappointment is a monumental understatement.  Their last album, VENOM & TEARS, truly seemed like it was the album to put them in line to ascend to the heights of bands like Lamb Of God, Slipknot or Machine Head in the quest to take Pantera’s vacated spot atop the Metal world.  Sadly, that momentum has been lost with this effort.  Sure, vocalist Dave Peters still sounds a lot like Philip Anselmo, but he’s purposely taken his vocals down a notch in an effort to sing a bit more and use his two vocal styles to contrast one another.  The result?  Something that sounds like every song on every active rock radio station in the country.  Sure, the music is a bit heavier, but songs like “The Scythe” or “Tombs” fall sadly short of the raging excellence that this band built their reputation on.  Guitarist Mark Chioniere is a major letdown here as well.  Where he’s been a searing shredder in the past, he’s now little more than a “chugga chugga” rhythm player with exactly no standout moments on the entire disc.  He accomplishes what he’s trying to do on songs like “Widowed”, but all that refers to is creating a sad ambiance that desperately leans this song to some lame program director’s desk.  Sure, the objective is to be as popular I guess.  Unfortunately, Throwdown have decided to take that approach at the expense of their musical integrity and built reputation.  Bassist Mark Mitchell and drummer Jarrod Alexander do their job creating a rhythmic bottom end for each song, but much like Peters and Chioniere, there’s little here to talk about.

PITRIFF RATING – 3/10 – As a fan of this band’s past work, DEATHLESS feels more like an album that should be called LIFELESS.  Boring, tepid metalcore that feels far more Mudvayne-like than their Pantera roots, DEATHLESS fails to continue the growth these guys were experiencing until now.  Let’s hope this album acts much in the same way that Shadows Fall’s THREADS OF LIFE DID; teaching them what NOT to do.  This one is a flop.

Chris Akin