POUNDER
“Thunderforged”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9.5/10

Pounder are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 2016, releasing to date one E.P. ‘Faster Than Fire’ (2018), and three albums – ‘Uncivilized’ (2019), ‘Breaking The World’ (2021), and ‘Thunderforged’…

…emerging in 2024 featuring the bands all conquering blend of power, speed, and traditional heavy metal! For the last few years Pounder have been riding the crest of a wave right through the heart of metal territory, blitzing everything and everyone in their path, the American metallers – comprising vocalist/guitarist Matt Harvey (Dekapitator, Exhumed, Gruesome), bass player Alejandro Corredor (Nausea), lead guitarist Tom Draper (ex Primitai), and (guest) drummer Mike Heller (Raven, Helms Deep, ex Fear Factory), are back to batter listeners, fans and followers with eight new songs across forty “foot on the monitor” minutes of pounding heavy metal! ‘Thunderforged’ storms into life with ‘Sound & Fury’, but only after a tension fuelled first forty seconds gives way to the bands tremendous traditional metal leanings – ‘Sound & Fury’ shuddering the ground with the iconic “metal gallop”. The head bang ability right from the (albums) off is top level stuff, the American five-piece roaring on with (I’d imagine the title song) ‘Thunderforge’, the guitar tone reflecting the iconic NWOBHM sound. A sound that evolved over forty years ago with bands such as Angel Witch, Iron Maiden and Samson and is still influencing bands today – Pounder one such band! ‘Thunderforge’ is full of pace and head bang-able to the max, ‘Thunderforged’s opening brace an absolutely blistering one!

And with a mean and moody anthemic foot stomp, Pounder deliver a new anthem for every metalhead – ‘Metal Eternal’ hitting the ground with tremendous oomph, the band paying homage to the icons that basically created heavy metal – a style of music that refuses to die and will live on forever! Especially in the hands of bands like Pounder, proudly upholding its ethos and flying the metal flag very high, ‘Comin’ Loose’ taking off at tremendous speed to rock the heads of every listener, fan and follower faster than ever before! The pace here is incredible, Pounder hurtling across metal territory with immense purpose and intent! What a fucking scorcher ‘Comin’ Loose’ is – ‘Line Of Fire’ even faster! The raucous energy of the last two songs has been off the charts, Pounder shuddering the ground with a force greater than gravity, metalheads everywhere wrecking their necks in a vain attempt to keep up with the band right now!

And for those of us that remember the nineteen eighties just like it was only yesterday, err, it was wasn’t it – Pounder perfectly ooze the eighties metal and rock sound with ‘Get Pounded’, the meld of heavy metal with hard rock one of the greatest musical sounds to come out of the eighties! Arguably the best decade for invention and evolution, the eighties produced some of the worlds greatest metal bands, bands that would go on to take over the world and influence generations of new bands many years later – Pounder obviously one of ’em! So come on readers, let’s get pounded by Pounder with the fantastic ‘Get Pounded’ – the band entering a more mellow plain to that of the entire album so far, ‘Deeper Than Blood’ mixing a hymn-like swagger with ballad leanings to produce so much reined in power I can feel it struggling to break free from here! And I’m over five thousand miles away – ‘Wet & Wreckless’ bringing the album to a close as it began, with a fast paced gallop and tremendous head bang ability, the band planting their feet firmly on the old school heavy monitor for ‘Thunderforged’s final hurrah!

Overall, a fast paced and infectious album with strong NWOBHM leanings, Pounder deliver a ground pounding array of heavy metal.

TRACKLIST

Sound & Fury
Thunderforge
Metal Eternal
Comin’ Loose
Line Of Fire
Get Pounded
Deeper Than Blood
Wet & Wreckless

https://pounderheavymetal.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pounderheavymetal/

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