January 23rd, 2014 
Brenton Harris 
Artist: Throwdown
Album: Intolerance
Genre: Hardcore
Throwdown have always been one of the more divisive bands in the hardcore scene, attracting a steady stream of passionate detractors who hate on them with a passion, labelling them ‘derivative,’ ‘unimaginative,’ ‘preachy,’ and ‘dated.’ Fortunately for the band, the passion of their detractors has never been a match for that of their fans, who love them with a passion rivaled by few fan-bases in the world; and with the release of the band’s seventh full-length record, Intolerance, those fans’ faith is about to be handsomely rewarded. Make no mistake about it, Intolerance is a mighty return to form from the Orange Country veterans, who sound more like themselves on this record than they have since 2005’s Vendetta. That’s right folks, Intolerance sounds just like Throwdown, only it’s Throwdown with everything turned to 11. The riffs are crunchier, the drums more thunderous, the breakdowns bigger, the vocals snarlier and even more Phil Anselmo-like than ever (this is not a criticism in my mind) and the lyrical matter is as direct an upfront as ever.
Opening with the positively frantic one-two punch of “Fight or Die” and “Borrowed Time,” Throwdown waste no time in ensuring the listener is acutely aware of the record’s intentions, with the band’s trademark juxtaposition of mosh-inducing groove and passionate lyricism on display throughout each of these crushing tunes. For fans of the band, these two opening tracks should immediately dispel any fears that the band may have lost their way during their prolonged absence and serves as the perfect lead in to the album’s third track, lead single “Avow”. “Avow” might just be the most quintessentially Throwdown track ever recorded. Exploding out of the speakers with a monstrous groove, “Avow” is a prototypical straight-edge anthem served up in Throwdown’s trademark crushing style. Equipped with a chorus that simply begs to be chanted passionately back at the band from the depths of the pit, the track features a mighty display of Dave Peters’ dominating vocal delivery set to a thunderous rhythmic backdrop that bangs, crashes and screams its way into your mind before descending into a massive breakdown that will no doubt be activating pits worldwide for years to come.
The band does a fairly decent job of maintaining the energy and passion present across these first three tracks over the remainder of the album, however, there is no denying the fact that despite the injections of some minor diversions such as the grungy “Born and Buried Alone,” and the Lamb Of God-like “Borrowed Time,” the album lacks the differentiation necessary to truly excite the listener across the album’s relatively short 28-minute duration. There is merit to the argument that much of this is due to the band’s steadfast commitment to the genre in which they play, and that it is somewhat nonsensical to expect a band such as Throwdown to produce anything other than the slab of energetic, groove-laden, straight-edge mantra driven hardcore/metalcore that they have dished up here. While that very well may be the case, for my tastes, it doesn’t do enough, often enough, to earn my critical acclaim. Fortunately for the band, and for their fans for that matter, this album wasn’t made for me or any other critic, it was made for them, and when viewed through that paradigm it is hard to see Intolerance as anything other than a raging success.
To put it simply, this record won’t make the band’s detractors like them any more, but it won’t lose them any fans either, and at this stage of the game that is arguably all that matters. Intolerance is a solid record with an even smattering of stand-out cuts that should slip seamlessly into the band’s live set, ensuring that the circle pits and stage dives remain in full force heading into the future, and in a scene that lives and dies by the live show, that is something that is really hard to fault. Welcome back.
SCORE: 6.5/10
Review written by: Brenton Harris
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This is a great and honest review. Hardcore/metal websites don’t even do reviews well in their own genre. This album would have been a better follow up to Haymaker. I’m glad it came out eventually though!
@xbluecollarhardcorex:disqus thanks man, I try to call it as it is – Brenton.