POUNDER: "Breaking The World"

Rating: RR
Label: Shadow Kingdom 2021
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom

Pounder are another metal band stuck in a timewarp 'ala back to the future and yesterday's tomorrow. The merely seven tracks on offer on their second release, "Breaking The World", have been carefully chosen to present a broad view of the bands' influences and skills. They hail from US of A and Los Angeles and it's mostly a bit too basic and primative American Metal of the very early eighties (pre-Glam era of the Sunset Strip). Throw in the odd NWOBHM and Thrash plus some bold statements of Manowar-ish "Spoils Of War" and you're pretty much set for the naff and rampant rock.

You may recognize vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey from his Deathgrind act Exhumed, and lead guitarist Tom Draper recently joined U.K. cult Thrashers: Carcass. Not too shabby. The band itself is surprisingly good and I especially enjoy the powerful riffing on "Hard Road To Home". The overall sound is not to dissimilar to listening to the early wave of American metal of the eighties. It's however the fun Twisted Sister, Lizzy Borden, Quiet Riot, melodies of tracks such as "Give Me Rock" that I find intriguing and it's probably the best track shout-a-long-wise.

Only seven tracks as mentioned and the thirthy seven something minutes goes by just like that. There are times when things look on the positive side, particularly when they head into the pure hair-metal jungle and arrangements. I'd say, ditch the second rate Manowar moves and melodies next time and go for the Quiet and Twisted, Lizzy. Final Verdict: It reeks of long-gone metal days/daze and you only need to take one quick glance at the artwork to understand what they're all about. You're no longer in 2021, it's rather 1981...