Powerman 5000 are one of those bands where their sound shifts from album to album. Now established for over 30 years, they are most often associated with their massively successful 1999 album Tonight the Stars Revolt!; which featured big hits such as “When Worlds Collide” and “Nobody’s Real.” Widely responsible for Powerman 5000’s mainstream association with a Sci-fi theme of rockets and robots, interestingly, they have not always adhered to such a typecast in the years to follow. Sure, their would-be follow up Anyone for Doomsday? may have followed a similar path… but that release was scrapped just two short weeks before the original release date set for August 28, 2001. A turning point in many Powerman 5000 fan’s minds, the shelving of Anyone for Doomsday? (which finally was released digitally in 2009), along with several lineup changes, and a near 4 year gap until Transform arrived in 2003, left a bit of a gaping hole in momentum.
Rather unfortunate, the news is not all bad, because Powerman 5000’s captain, Spider One, rebounded from these setbacks nicely leading the band forward into a stable future of music creation and touring. Furthermore, while the style of Powerman 5000 has altered over time – see 2006’s Destroy What You Enjoy or 2017’s New Wave as prime examples of such – they have still dabbled in the more outer space themes here and there too. This all drawn out, the last we heard from Spider One and his crew was with the rather eclectic The Noble Rot… that was until news came down that they would be back in 2024 with Abandon Ship.
What will be the band’s 11th studio album, Abandon Ship arrives on May 10th through Cleopatra Records and is led by a pretty cool single entitled “1999.” A bit of a nostalgic look back at a different time in history, while the year of 1999 does not seem terribly long ago for some of us, it is safe to say much has changed in the 25 years since… and not too much for the better. Regardless of this doom and gloom outlook, the single does a nice job of hooking you in, leading up to the second track put out next, “Dancing Like We’re Dead.” This one being a bit heavier, both songs are but a glimpse into what direction Powerman 5000 are steering the ship this time around.
Giving you a total of 10 new songs, some may argue Abandon Ship is one of the most potent Powerman 5000 efforts of the last decade. Produced by Matt McJunkins (who has worked with everyone from A Perfect Circle to Poppy), the album has an energy and pace that is right-on from its launching point. Sounding reinvigorated, joining Spider One is a lineup consisting of DJ Rattan on drums, Murv3 on bass, Taylor Haycraft on guitar, and newest member, Dan Schiz on lead guitar. Together they create a sound that fits the enthusiasm of some of Powerman 5000’s most beloved works, including of course Tonight the Stars Revolt!. What this means is the songs sound very natural, Industrial Metal leaning, but with programming that is not oversaturated to the point you do not feel like a live band is involved.
Really rather refreshing, some of the coolest cuts from this collection would have to include “Invisible Man,” “GTFO,” “This Is A Life,” and “Wake Up In Space,” which features a tempo/vibe that reminds you of Tones on Tails’s 1984 classic “Go!” There are also the Horror-themed qualities of “The Last Chapter,” which is effective musically as well as lyrically in mirroring the real life disaster that is humanity, but also a nice bonus track with the band’s updated take on the 2001 hit single “Bombshell.”
Overall, Abandon Ship is a fantastic return from Powerman 5000 and one which should please long-time fans and maybe even draw back in some of those who lost track of the band over time. So, while we might want to abandon the sinking ship that is our world, we should not do so with Powerman 5000, because Cryptic Rock gives this new album 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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