The current state of the world has not slowed down Matt Harvey. After releasing a split with himself last year, Harvey is kicking off 2021 by Breaking the World with his old school metal passion project, Pounder. Joining him in this endeavor are fellow death metal musicians Tom Draper of Carcass and Alejandro Corredor of Nausea. You’d almost couldn’t think of a stranger bunch of dudes to release such an album, until you recall that little Swedish AOR supergroup made up of melo death musicians and tell yourself stranger things have happened (The Night Flight Orchestra anyone?).
Breaking the World is the follow up to their 2019 debut, Uncivilized. It’s also a step up. While Uncivilized had a casual, “Let’s plug in and play.” feel, Breaking the World is more polished and professional in nature. It has a greater sense of variety as well, which is something we need to see more of in the so called “NWOTHM”. I’m not sure how many more times I can review the same rehashed Priest and Maiden albums.
“Spoils of War” kicks things off in about as orthodox fashion as possible. Aside from a Mercyful Fate inspired midsection, it’s a straight forward, go for the throat, old school banger. This is largely contrasted by the title track, which contains power metal lyrics and attitude set to an old school doom metal soundtrack. At times it reminds me of early, slightly less cringe worthy Manowar.
As Breaking the World goes on, focus pivots towards an upbeat, gritty take on traditional metal, reminiscent of Angel Witch and Tank. “Hard Road to Home” and “Never Forever” boast melodic singalong choruses and terrific twin guitar work from Harvey and Draper. The one-two punch of “Hard City” and “Give Me Rock” signal yet another shift in style, with classic hard rock/AOR taking centerstage. The lead riff in “Hard City” sounds like something Jake E. Lee would’ve played in Ozzy’s band, while “Give Me Rock” makes me wonder how much more exciting this album could’ve been if it was pure AOR from beginning to end. “Deadly Eyes” saves the fastest for last and then just like that it’s over.
Could this album have been better? Sure. For one, Matt Harvey is no Rob Halford. Furthermore, I found the second half of the album to be considerably stronger than the first. But taking everything into consideration, Breaking the World goes over a lot better than it could’ve been. Pounder is a supergroup who lives up to the “super” title. May they continue “Pounding the world like a battering ram.”
6 out of 10
Label: Shadow Kingdom Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For Fans of: Haunt, Angel Witch, Ozzy Osbourne