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POUNDER
Breaking The World

Shadow Kingdom (2021)
Rating: 6.5/10

Californian metallers Pounder have returned with their second album, Breaking The World, that comes complete with 80s inspired cover artwork.

Of course Pounder are fronted by Matt Harvey, known for his work with a variety of acts such as Exhumed, Gruesome and Dekapitator, but it’s still taking me a while to get used to his clearer vocals in spite of the rollicking musicianship contained herein. Other critics have also said that Harvey is far more suited to a death metal growl, whereas with Pounder Matt’s style seems a touch weak, and yet almost Germanic in accent. But hey, it’s not bad, just seemingly unable to keep up with the molten, metallic fuel provided by the sizzling guitars, bashing bass and hyper drums.

Pounder still plays infectious, straight-up metal; at times channeLling the great New Wave Of British Heavy Metal spirit while bordering on power metal and thrash, although never quite hitting either. But even so, Pounder’s sophomore outing still spits great balls of fire; the mix of fury and flame levels at times to a basic biker metal of sorts, but with added gasoline.

Opener ‘Spoils Of War’ glints in glorious fashion, mainly thanks to the axe work, while the title cut begins with a nice percussion and bass tad-team action before the spark ignites and we’re treated to a glinting Teutonic blaze of melody and steel. It’s one of the heaviest tracks on the opus, but this is also a prime example of how Matt Harvey’s vocal seem to struggle; his power just doesn’t emerge as there’s just no further levels to his pipework. Strange then how this record reminds me of one of those enjoyable yet much forgotten 80s records churned out by, say, the Mausoleum label where the cover art would draw you in but the musical content often remained tepid.

‘Hard Road To Home’ is another heavyweight clash that gallops nicely and refreshes in its sprightly manner. But suddenly, after three tracks, I realise just how harmless, generic and, dare I say it, one dimensional this album is. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but in the grand scheme of things there’s something lightweight even through the suggestively contradicting heaviness.

‘Never Forever’ attempts an 80s atmosphere with those electronics and that authentic sounding battleworn call to arms intro, before another feisty riff takes us into a steady gallop of gold, glory and grandeur. Yet again though, Matt Harvey seems out of touch with the war zone around him; his cries lack command, his calls go unheard and the chorus feels synthetic and frail. However, kudos still go to the instrumentation that, although not quite pounding, remains steadfast and straight.

‘Hard City’ and ‘Give Me Rock’, particularly, are fine examples of that steely splendour. “Steam is rising from the streets as I walk outside my door, night is fall, something’s calling, stronger than ever before” Matt calls, but the power is lacking, although not for the want of trying, and the chorus also remains bereft of any originality.

As closer ‘Deadly Eyes’ frantically bundles itself over the line, I’m expecting Pounder’s new album to attract a lot of attention, especially as this type of revival metal seems so popular. However, you to bear in mind that metal on this level was in abundance in the 80s, and much of it remains forgotten, hidden away in some dusty ol’ crypt. So, Pounder’s new record will not break the world… in fact, it won’t even break into a sweat. But as a meat n’ veg diet, lacking in potatoes album goes, this is straight down the middle generic fizzing metal – just one lacking oomph and vocal power to have a lasting effect.

Neil Arnold

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