Powerman 5000

Destroy What You Enjoy

Written by: TL on 25/10/2006 00:20:47

Powerman 5000 is one of those bands that have been around for a while and belong in the same sorry group of bands as Disturbed, Staind, Crazy Town, Puddle Of Mud and the likes. You know what I'm talking about, the group of bands who had their fifteen minutes of fame in the middle of the 90s when genres like nu-metal and post-grunge had their glory days - the very same genres that are suffering from a severe backlash these days and are being frowned upon by just about every music-snob around. On their two latest albums, the band being fronted by Rob Zombie's more serious younger brother "Spider One" (are you as nauseated by the sound of that name as I am?), the band has however attempted to escape the previously mentioned label, in order to slip into something more modern, and what's more modern in the era of Green Day than trying for punk rock with size?

And thus we stand at what must have been the inspiration for the making of this album and, oh God, what a pathetic tragedy it is. After the uninteresting intro and the hard-rocking insignificance of a title-song/opener, we're treated with a sample of how Bad Religion would sound, if they lost their humour and intelligence. Next up is the first single from the album "Wild World". Around here, I start suspecting what is really going on here. Just listen to the riffs of this song and the "hey, poor suburban kids unite"-lyrics, and tell me for a second, that you don’t get instantly reminded of the style Green Day presented on "American Idiot", just way, WAY worse performed. From here on, the album stumbles back and forth between the desperate attempts at ripping off punk rock bands, and the more conventional and utterly uninteresting hard rock anthems. When the album trails off with the "Oh my God, this has to be a joke" acoustic country-song "Miss America" and the live version of some old song that's as completely uninteresting as the new ones, all I can think is: Someone put this pure deluded record out of its misery!

The one and ONLY highlight on this mockery is the song "Murder" that, while still sounding like something Green Day would have saved for a b-side compilation, does have some captivating riffage, a nice drive and some vocalwork that can actually be taken seriously. Hell, I might even put on this song on purpose, and that's saying something for this record. My message for this band is still the following though: If you don't have anything smart to say, don't try to, because no one will then take you seriously despite your most honest efforts. I seriously wonder what the guys made the kid in the beginning of "Now That's Rock 'N Roll" drink in order to make him state that "they write very - pretty heavy lyrics, and I pretty much agree with most of the stuff that they write", because for every second I've been listening to this, I've practically felt myself turning dumber.

3

Download: Murder (then DON'T buy the album)
For the fans of: Bands of "Limp Bizkit"-like calibre
Listen: MySpace

Release date 02.10.2006
DRT Entertainment
Provided by Target ApS

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