Destroy What You Enjoy (CD - 2006)

Alternative metal outfit Powerman 5000 dropped their seventh full-length, DESTROY WHAT YOU ENJOY, in 2006. Three years in the making, the album finds the band sporting a new lineup (including guitarist Terry Corso, formerly of Alien Ant Farm) and sounding refreshed and energized. Powerman 5000 are light years away from the industrial metal of their earlier releases. Instead, the sound on DESTROY is pure, stripped-down hard rock that seems as indebted to Stones-y swagger as it does to any contemporary headbangers. But this is not to say the album doesn't rock. It rocks monstrously, and with good songs and razory, gut-wrenching performances to boot.

There was a period of time during the late '90s where it appeared as though Powerman 5000 was going to join the likes of Korn and the Deftones in the hearts of nu-metal worshipers worldwide. Although they enjoyed a few moderate chart successes (especially with 1999's Tonight the Stars Revolt!), the group -- led by bleach-blonde frontman Spider -- failed to follow the aforementioned bands up the charts. But they continued to soldier on, as evidenced by the release of 2006's Destroy What You Enjoy. It appears as though Powerman 5000 has made it a point to bring things back to basics, as stripped-down compositions such as the title track and "Return to the City of the Dead" are more punk-based than anything they've done yet. However, with countless other bands mining the same exact musical territory, there's not much to differentiate Destroy What You Enjoy from other fellow nu-metallists suddenly in search of an identity. ~ Greg Prato minimize