Review – Powerman 5000 – New Wave
Artist: Powerman 5000
Album: New Wave
Rating: 9/10
Powerman 5000 ruled back in the day with hits like, “When Worlds Collide“, “Bombshell” and “Super Villian” just to name a few. The continuous success throughout Powerman 5000’s career has spanned over 23 years, countless tours, and 11 studio albums and now enter, “New Wave” a fresh step into 2017 with already hit track, “Sid Vicious In A Dress” which is currently in rotation on multiple rock stations. “New Wave” is due for release on October 27th and Pavement Entertainment invited me to a promo listen.
“Sid Vicious In A Dress” is the first released track of of “New Wave” which is making moves on the charts. This song offers some reminiscent vocals from the hayday of Powerman 5000 but with a new spin. The track itself is a twisted love song at best. It’s about being in love with what hurts you. It’s the simple point made in this song while portraying it in an high octane manner. Its got the big guitars and the pop culture reference to boot, but the subject matter and content is definitely different for the band. This seemingly will become a type of anthem for all kinds of twisted love stories and mayhem.
“Hostage” opens up with a fast intensity installment that keeps up with the demanding pace of the intro to the album. The track is a punk anthem bringing forth some industrialized guitars and vocals. This song is a full on 2:44 minute ride into a realm of modern day punk set on full out thrashing.
Most bands are ever changing, losing band member and switching labels, but Powerman 5000 has consistently released albums full of creativity and intensity in the further spanning catalogue albums of their timeless career. We can hear this is the tracks, “Hostage“, ” Sid Vicious In A Dress ” and even the intro track “Footsteps and Voices” which will enthrall you with Spider One’s unique vocal delivery (which includes a rare rap) and melodic display of range.
The stand out track on “New Wave” is, and this is the actual song title “David F**king Bowie” which is a tribute to David Bowie’s career and influence. Powerman 5000 even covered David Bowie’s track, “Space Oddity” and referencing it with the song lyrics, “When ground control is all you know, When ground control is all you know.” This giving a hats off to David Bowie and a pleasant send-off salute. If you are a fan of David Bowie then you’ll love the dedication to a true commodity and legendary icon in the music industry.
The shortest song on the album is “Cult Leader” and while it’s the shortest track the album and to offer it definitely delivers a punch. In totality it comes to 1:44 but is still another hard-hitting track Powerman 5000 can dish out.
This album overall has made a statement and that is. Innovation and Creativity. Spider One continues to push the boundaries of Rock and punk into on the new age. Which is what I think the album title really was appropriately named for.
Official video for “Sid Vicious In A Dress”
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