By Aaron Small

Like a chameleon changing its colour, The Showdown from Elizabethton, Tennessee opt for a different sound with each album they release. Their debut, A Chorus Of Obliteration, issued in 2004 was a death metal monster. In 2006, that was followed by the southern rock inspired Temptation Come My

Way. Now The Showdown has unleashed album number three, Back Breaker. An aggressively raw, powerfully crushing set of 11 new songs that up the metal ante.

According to frontman David Bunton, "When it came time to make this one, it just seemed... we only played the heavier songs off of Temptation live. We really wanted to do a record that we would play every song live. If I didn't think I could do something live, I didn't do it (in the studio). The live aspect is really important to us. We're just naturally a heavier band. I

love cock rock and monster ballads, but when it came time to play them last time around, it just didn't feel right. I'm really proud of Temptation. I don't regret anything we've done."

The southern roots are buried on Back Breaker; it's more about turning the Marshalls up to 11. "A lot of the '80s influence we had left when Travis (Bailey, guitarist) left. Josh (Childers, guitarist) is influenced by tons of metal. We love Down and Pantera, Testament, stuff like that." Pantera really comes through on 'The Fires Of Deliverance'. "Phil Anselmo is a great

heavy metal singer. I definitely draw influence from him."

Surprisingly, The Showdown recorded Back Breaker "in our buddy's basement studio. It's like a real studio. It's professional. We just wanted to do itas low key as possible, as punk rock as possible. We spent so much money on Temptation... it was awesome, it was a great experience. We definitely learned a lot from that. Honestly, we tried to do our record at a lot of different places and we talked to a lot of producers... it never really panned out. We didn't want to go over budget. We decided to do it with Jeremiah (Scott). He's amazing. Vocally, he likes a lot of the same stuff I like. So when it was time for me to record, it was just natural. It was easy. He's a buddy and stuff, but he's a legitimate pro so it was cool."

David explains the decision to title the album Back Breaker. "We went through a lot to do this record and honestly to keep our band together. Especially doing Ozzfest (in 2007) and losing tons of money, going deeper in debt, it's been rough. It would have been easier for us to give up honestly. But we didn't. We love playing heavy metal and touring. That's what we're meant to do. When Josh brought in that song ('The Backbreaker'), we knew it was the one because honest to goodness, we have just completely broke our backs trying to make this record happen. Against all odds we did it. Heavy metal is about having fun and doing what you want on your own terms. I think that can get lost in the glimmer and the lights. We just love keeping it together and playing. The lyrics in that song are so strong."

Elaborating upon how Ozzfest changed The Showdown, David says, "That was one of the most fun tours we've ever done. We grew so much as a band. We almost cracked on Ozzfest. It was very emotional. We started the tour in a van, ended up in a bus. It was ridiculous. There were some rough spots. Some days we didn't have anywhere to go. You're just there in the sun and it's very hard, but at the same time it was a blast. Everyone was hanging out: Lamb Of God, Hatebreed; those dudes are so cool. It was a total heavy metal community. Everyone was having fun."

The artwork adorning Back Breaker depicts a muscular, loincloth-clad warrior, unscathed by the numerous arrows sticking out of his torso. Certain copies have a big black sticker on the cellophane with The Showdown in gold letters hiding this image, while others are wrapped without obstruction. Apparently some retailers have issues with this cover. "It's mainly Christian retailers. They censored a song off our last record ('Fanatics And Whores'). I think it's kind of funny that they took that song off because that song is about all the people out there making money off the name of Jesus. It is fanatics and whores. That song is about the Christian market pretty much; so of course they censored it. That market does not want to hear the truth. We're all Christian guys, but when it comes down to us worrying about some Christian band mould or any of that stuff, we're not interested. If you like heavy metal, that's all you need. I would die at the thought of someone supporting our band because we're Christians. That's the stupidest reason to like a band ever. If you think it's good music, then cool. If you don't, then cool. The one thing I hope is that people can relate to our band and what we're doing no matter what we believe in."

Stryper is still stereotyped as the penultimate Christian band, thereby putting a black cloud over anybody else. "Oh my gosh I know. I have such a hard time saying we're a Christian band - this is what I believe and I'm not going to back down from it, this is who I am. If you don't think that way, cool. I can guarantee that we can be friends and that we'll have stuff in common. The thought of someone not listening to our band solely because we're a Christian band - that totally defeats the whole purpose. I hope that people would just dig metal."

The Back Breaker booklet itself is very humble. There aren't any band pictures. Your names aren't even printed. It leaves the listener asking, who are The Showdown? "Yeah. The last record was so in your face with a pullout poster... we just wanted the music to stand alone. I've got no interest in being a rock star. I don't like rock stars. Any rock star I've ever met, I'm not into him. Guys like Lamb Of God and Hatebreed have every right to act and be a rock star and they aren't. They're the coolest guys. The guys in Shadows Fall are awesome dudes. We've done three tours with them. The very first tour we did, we weren't even there five minutes and they were hanging out with us and treating us like they had known us forever. I get so stoked when people come to our shows and want to hang out."

The cover of 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas on Temptation is brilliant. Yet there's no cover this time around. "Actually we did a cover, it just didn't make the record. We covered 'In A Gadda Da Vida' (by Iron Butterfly). I personally like it. It's very southern! It's sludgy. It would have really stuck out on the record. But we're going to put it out at some point. We kicked around doing a Slayer cover, an Alice In Chains cover. We kicked around doing ' Mississippi Queen' (by Mountain). We will definitely do a covers album at some point."