Powerman 5000 - Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere Review

Posted by Daniel Wilcox on 10.27.2009

"Future metal" outfit Powerman 5000 are back, but one has to ask what the point was?



Powerman 5000 - Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere
Review by Daniel Wilcox

Spider One – vocals
Velkro – lead guitar
Evan 9 – rhythm guitar
X51 – bass
GFlash - drums

Track listing:
1. Intelligent Creatures
2. Show Me What You’ve Got
3. Super Villain
4. V is for Vampire
5. Do Your Thing
6. Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere
7. Time Bomb, Baby
8. Get Your Bones
9. Make Us Insane
10. Technology Eats Its Young
11. Horror Show

I find it somewhat difficult to fathom that this band peaked just about a decade ago, with the mega popular Tonight the Stars Revolt in 1999. Since then, there’s been a whole host of change in the Powerman 5000 camp, both in terms of its sound and its personnel. Indeed Spider One is the only original member of the band left. One thing remains the same though, and that’s that seemingly insurmountable stigma of being Rob Zombie’s little brother’s band. The emergence of Anyone for Doomsday in 2007 however, (the recorded was initially scrapped in 2001), suggested to many people that this was a band that, at least once upon a time, was capable of making some pretty good music. However, I think it's safe to say that Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere does not mark a return to form for Powerman 5000.

The first thing fans will notice is that this record is a far cry from what were essentially pop-punk albums in Transform and Destroy What You Enjoy. Ultimately and unsurprisingly however, Somewhere on the Other Side of Nowhere does fall considerably short of reproducing the sound of the band’s heyday. It just lacks that visceral edge that shot them to success at the turn of the century and as such the band will continue to remain forgot, barely a blip on anyone’s radar. The fantastic guitar work of “Make Us Insane,” however, is a total throwback and reminds listeners of just how good this band once was. “Show Me What You’ve Got” and “Time Bomb, Baby” both seem to suggest that this is a band that still wants to, and has the ability to, make good music, but for the most part this is a record that comes across as uninspired and lacking in terms of any sort of creative merit.

Elsewhere, the band has developed an ability to write songs that are really quite catchy, as is evident by “Super Villain” and “Horror Show.” The latter song and single “V is for Vampire” feature some of that notorious nu-metal rapping stuff and that is probably going to be something of a turn-off for long time fans who really never appreciated that sort of thing. The band’s science-fiction infused brand of hard rock is probably more likely to appeal to the masses nowadays with those hook-laden choruses, but they’re never going to compete with some of the bigger names in the genre who have been established for the last decade. Unfortunately a lot of this record sounds like they would fit nicely on either of the band’s previous albums, neither of which were well-received.

While the singles will likely have you toe-tapping, albeit not overly enthusiastically, the vast majority of this album offers up absolutely nothing that is likely to grab your attention in the way that much of the band’s earlier work once did. Ultimately the album exists in something of a state of limbo, as there isn’t really anything actively bad, it’s just that it’s all a long way off being good or memorable. It’s total mediocrity.

Essential downloads: “V is for Vampire” and “Make Us Insane.”

The 411: There's a reason that the release of this record has been somewhat unanticipated, and that's because everything about reeks of mediocrity, outside of maybe one or two tracks, and even then they're nothing special. If you're a big fan of this band and a completist, then you should probably get this, but other than that, steer clear; there's absolutely nothing to see here.

Final Score:  5.5   [ Not So Good ]