Powerman 5000 Album Review

Powerman 5000 – Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere

Mighty Loud/Fontana, 2009

8/10

The last ten years have certainly been rough for Powerman 5000, with constant lineup changes and commercial highs and lows. Credit must be given to band leader and frontman Spider One (Michael Cummings) for persevering under conditions that would cause most bands to fold. The band’s sixth full length album, Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere, finds them continuing the industrial metal formula that helped make 1999’s Tonight The Stars Revolt! release a huge success. Spider One still has the remarkable talent of writing catchy, memorable songs that beg for your attention. After a short introduction track, “Show Me What You’ve Got” kicks the album off in high gear and is quickly followed by the bouncing, infectious “Super Villain” and “V Is For Vampire”. Another trio of songs, “Do Your Thing”, “Time Bomb”, and “Make Us Insane”, don’t quite rise the level of those aforementioned but fit well with the style and pace of the record. The only letdowns are the title track and closer “Horror Show”, which plod along and distract from the album’s high energy feel. So what we’ve got is undeniably enjoyable album with only a couple below average tracks. Frankly, the quality of this record took me by surprise as I was one of many long ago wrote Powerman 5000 off. Fans of Static-X, Rob Zombie, and Dope would take a quick liking to Somewhere On The Other Side Of Nowhere and the album is highly recommended for those who enjoy melodic industrial metal. Really, the only reason I can think of as to why radio shuns Powerman 5000 these days is the lack of a major label marketing budget. The band continues to deliver the goods, and they have succeeded in releasing an outstanding album.

Powerman 5000 will be appearing at The Rock in Maplewood on Monday, October 26. Support will come from No Conviction, Nuisance, and Tepetricy.