POUNDER "Breaking The World" CD

Wasting no time keeping that envious momentum going, Pounder return just over a year later with all guns blazing on Breaking the World. Leaner, meaner, and all-too-accurately titled, Breaking the World sees the band - vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey, bassist Alejandro Corredor, and lead guitarist Tom Draper - getting both heavier and more anthemic, more American in their metal but also more wide-ranging in their reach. Comprising seven songs in a satisfyingly compact 37 minutes, Breaking the World keeps the energy flowing freely across these more concertedly epic songs, but not once is there a feeling of bloat or padding out lengths just for the hell of it; these songs charge, HARD, and are painted with solos of a godly nature and all sorts of tasteful twists. Similarly, the hooks literally HOOK you in - we dare you to get the likes of "Never Forever" or the Manowarring title track outta your head...won't happen, no way!Above all, just like Uncivilized before it, Breaking the World reaffirms what's so invigorating and life-affirming about the art of HEAVY METAL. "We won't live forever / we just get one chance / so let's do it right," Harvey sagely sings in the album's opening moments. And in this state of the world right now, more than ever do we need Pounder to break it and build it back up again. "Give Me Rock"? You shall have it!