With the resurgence of metal guitar and the guitar solo in rock music today comes a band with Christian influenced lyrics and a hint of southern rock. That band is called The Showdown. They are another band I have been introduced to through TVU the Christian rock music video channel on the SkyAngel network. I saw their video and had to find out more. One of their famous tag lines is “jammin’ for the Lamb”. The Showdown is based out of Elizabethton, Tennessee. Being a big Tennessee fan, need I go on? Ah yes, but I will. The following is a quote from a member of the band that kind of sums up what they are about.

We are about power, fire, pyro, oil, rocks, and heavy. Whether than means rolling around town on our dirt bikes, hauling our twenty-five foot trailer to a show, or starting a barbeque in a random parking lot. We want to have fun and take it to the extreme on and off the road. And our live show is 110%, 110% of the time. But we aren’t about the party as a means to escape. We have joy because we have truth, and because we have been blessed. It isn’t drugs and girls and alcohol, but a genuine love of life because of our blessings that gives us our attitude.

From front-man David Bunton comes another tidbit:

We’re just trying to bring back masculine. We’re trying to take the sensitive guy out, and bring the bad boy back. Just watch MTV or Fuse and they are littered with music videos of dudes who look like they are scared to be in their own band. It’s all about star power, and no one has it anymore. If it gets any worse I’m going to just put “Enter Sandman” on repeat, then I won’t have to listen to all those sensitive feminine bands crying and whining. We are going to stuff those jokers in trash cans and give them swirlies.

Today I am reviewing their sophomore album release called “Temptation Come My Way“. The album was released February 20th, 2007. The songs are personal and reflect an attitutude toward life. It is a carefree, live-for-each-moment, carpe diem outlook on life. You will find the lyrics deep and penetrating and reflective of Christian youths trying to manuver through the trappings of today’s culture. The first song throttles out of the starting line with “Fanatics and Whores”. The primary rhythm is a droning metal grinding that lays down an attitude toward televangelists and Christian marketing as the song says:”You with your tie and that smile, and the green in your eyes. Selling Jesus on your TV show”. The song is one of the heaviest tracks on the album. The next track is “Head Down” and it starts with cowbell baby. Oh yeah! You can never have enough cowbell. It is a song about being able to lay your head down and sleep with a clean conscious. The double drumming close to the end is very cool. The third track is called “Six Feet Under”. The music is very reminiscent of the metal sound of the late 80’s and early 90’s by such bands as Ratt or Dokken. The lyrics are intensely heavy about the life of a war torn soldier. “We Die Young” is the next track on the album and has a nice Southern hard rock sound to it. The song is about those who “live fast” like the old Def Leppard lyric “It’s better to burn out, than fade away”. The band proclaims there is more to this life than burning bright as stars only to fade away as one.

As far as album highlights I would have to include the first four tracks from above and include the following songs. “Breath of the Swamp” about life in the Southland. The song lyrics are the most simplistic on the album but the song has at least two good guitar solos. “It Drinks From Me” is a warning against addiction and excesses. The blues laced acoustic guitar throughout the song lends to it a very cool bluesy hard rock boogie. “Temptation Come My Way” has a nice amplified Southern blues rhythm to it that is very memorable. The song confronts weakness and vice with lyrics that say:

Hey hey
You are the storm and the sun will drown
I love
To love the way that you let me down
And if I ever strut
bring me right back down
Remind me today
that temptation’s still in town

I could go on and on about this album but I have already reached my word limit for a posting of this subject. The only average song on the album is a cover of the Kansas song “Carry On My Wayward Son”. It is definitely their own version of it but I am such a traditionalist. There are not many songs that I prefer over the original. I hear that The Showdown are working on another release for this coming summer. I am so looking forward to some more of The Showdown. I give the album four and a half stars out of five. Rock On!!

There is not a quality video available yet. When one becomes available I will post it here. Until then enjoy the complete audio for “Temptation Come My Way” below.