Band:	Throwdown
Album:	Deathless
Style:	Hardcore, Metalcore
Release date:	November 10, 2009
A review by:	Baz Anderson

01. The Scythe
02. This Continuum
03. Tombs
04. The Blinding Light
05. Widowed
06. Headed South
07. Serpent Noose
08. Ouroboros Rising
09. Skeleton Vanguard
10. Pyre
11. Black Vatican
12. Burial At Sea

Groove Metalcore
Nuclear Blast
U.S.A.
Length: 55:13


Straight edge Americans Throwdown make their Nuclear Blast debut in Europe with their new album, album number six, Deathless. The band then are no strangers to their art, and have provided us with a complete, well-rounded album.

Throwdown make their mark as a metalcore band with strong groove elements, which leads them towards sounding like a metalcore version of a cross between Pantera and perhaps Mudvayne. The vocals are in that distinctive American, groove, Phil Anselmo style that so many bands have taken on, and the music is not bad at all either. The term "metalcore" conjures all kinds of nightmarish scenes of bad haircuts and breakdowns, but although Throwdown do have some cheesy breakdowns in here, the album is not a pain to get through.

Deathless is the epitome of modern, contemporary metal, particularly in America at the moment. There are some slightly more up-tempo parts that might scare a few grandparents, but on the whole this is very accessible and easy to listen to.

The band do not break any moulds, Deathless has nothing groundbreaking on it. This is more a case of delivering a safe and solid package to, well, whoever wants to listen. Although the album can't be used as a torture device, it does still fall into the genre's typical predictable style of harsh verse, clean chorus, and so forth. The album is somewhat redeemed by the typical groove styled guitar work, but again although it sounds passable, the whole groove side of the band with the vocals and guitar does edge a little too far towards wanting to sound like the next Pantera.

Metalcore might make you think of all kinds of things, but Throwdown have given us an album of good proportions where there isn't too much of one thing or too little of another. Deathless is an ultra modern album that doesn't stretch too far, but is sure to please the band's fan base. Contemporary, slightly copycat and ordinary, but not bad either.