While music is an extension of musicians themselves, it doesn’t always mean that other people have to enjoy listening to it. There are bands who make it for their own pleasure and stay unknown; bands who get recognized by doing it for pleasure; bands who do not get recognized even if they do it for their fans, and at last people who become famous by indulging their audience’s tastes. So, who are Throwdown in this role-playing game? Simple. Back in 1997 up to 2001 these guys from Orange County were a brutal, knife-to-the-bone grinding straight edge hardcore act, but the then second guitarist Dave Peters took the vocals and things suddenly changed. For good. At first. “Haymaker” (2003) was hell of an album. Full of breakdowns and old-school hardcore clichés, that record was kind of fresh air in a time when every single band on the planet tried to reinvent Swedish metal again. A couple of years later, Throwdown, already known at least for their anthem “Forever”, released “Vendetta”. Not that it was a bad album, it just sounded, er… too metal for them. And after seeing how A Perfect Murder slipped down and crashed into the wall because of their Pantera influences, one would shake head with sore conviction about Throwdown’s new direction. This he/she would be damn right about it, because “Venom and Tears” - with all its shredding, thrashing and bluesy guitar soloing - reminds of Crowbar, C.O.C., Down and most ultimately Pantera. Whether it’s a collective disillusion with hardcore or a deliberate attempt to conquer the metal scene remains unclear, but for the majority of fans this new album is a bitter surprise. It seems like Peters had been heavily practicing how to copycat Anselmo before he entered the studio. Even the background shrieks overlaying in songs like “I, Suicide” sound so familiar, that you have to take a look at the CD case to make sure what exactly you’re listening to. The most annoying thing, however, is not the massive Pantera influence. Not even the weak cover of Sepultura’s “Propaganda”. You must not expect every one to be unique these days - it’s all riffs and all of them have been invented a long time ago. What pisses us off is that Throwdown had obviously packed their hardcore attitude in a card box and forgot to bring it when they moved. Sorry, guys, wrong way! It was much more exciting when you were into boxing and straight edge.