Temptation Come My Way [Germany]

On their second album (two years in the making), the Showdown provide some very necessary, old-skool head-bangin' from the backwoods of Tennessee. Taking their cues from Sabbath and Deep Purple, with a little bit of Southern boogie thrown in for good measure, the band has come up with an album of riff-heavy swamp-fever tunes that suggest real songcraft and intelligence behind the thunder. Highlights include a monstrous cover of "Carry On Wayward Son," and the title track's powerful opening guitar salvo.