Review by MartinDavey87 for Downer - Downer (2001)

I remember so fondly back in April of 2001, when Kerrang TV was launched in the UK. I was still a relative newcomer to rock and metal, and without any relevant radio stations to listen to, and before YouTube existed, this was my portal to a whole new world of music.

One of the first ever videos I saw, and a song that will forever be imprinted in my memory, was ‘Last Time’, by American nu metal band Downer, taken from their self-titled second (and last) album, ‘Downer’. I was only 14 years-old at the time, and any group with a music video, airing on TV no less, were instantly huge, super rich rock stars to me.

How naïve I was. The truth is, Downer’s album is actually very generic, with the aforementioned single being one of very few highlights. The “huge rock stars” themselves probably all ended up working in Walmart or something. Downer’s sound is very, very typical of nu metal at the time, and I imagine they were snapped up by their record label simply for being associated with the genre.

The “few highlights” I mentioned above, include ‘Flex’, ‘Punching Bag’ and ‘Born Again’, which all have decent enough riffs and powerful vocals, but are sadly easily dismissible amongst an album full of plodding, nu metal repetition. The sad reality, is that this album came out at the absolute peak of nu metal, and considering that they were competing against bands like Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, Korn, Slipknot, System of a Down and Disturbed, Downer just simply didn’t stand a chance.