Rising out of the NYHC scene in 1986, Prong started life as a raw back to basics hardcore band. Over time and with releases like Prove You Wrong and Beg To Differ, the band made their own little space in the metal world. The sound was a unique combination of hardcore, thrash and industrial rhythms that owed a minor debt to the legendary Killing Joke but at the same time the band was very original and far ahead of its time. The band split up in 1997 and mainman Tommy Victor went on to work with Danzig, Rob Zombie and most recently Ministry's Al Jourgenson.

So, it's 2007, a good twenty years have passed since Victor first started the band and Prong has been revived and signed onto Jourgenson's 13^th Planet Records. The question to ask is, can Victor live up to his own path breaking legacy? A legacy that is still being mined today by hundreds of bands. The answer luckily is yes. Tommy Victor has put together an album that is vintage Prong and at the same doesn't sound like it's stuck in the 90s.

The album starts with Looking For Them and straight away you know you're listening to Prong. The guitar tone, the riffing style and Victor's vocal delivery gives the game away. This is Prong like I've always loved them. Chunky grooves, some classic metal riffing and a modern sounding production job that's still just a little dirty around the edges. Considering Victor also handled production duties on the album it's obvious that special care was taken to make the guitar tone sound thick and heavy. No Justice is another terrific song. Mid paced with some chunky riffing, the song sounds like it could have been on Beg To Differ. Victor's vocals work superbly. While I have thought on occasion that his vocals were a little weak, here his pissed off shouting style works really well with these songs.

Victor is backed up by Monte Pittman and Aaron Rossi on bass and drums respectively. The duo make for a superbly tight rhythm section and although not exactly in the class of Ted Parsons and Paul Raven (the rhythm section from Prong's breakthrough Cleansing album) they do their job very nicely. Rossi in particular stands out with his tasteful use of some double bass drumming.

I've always thought of Victor as a terrific metal guitarist who never really got the recognition he deserves and on Power Of The Damager he once again pulls out all the stops and gives these twelve songs his all. He has added some vaguely death metal type riffs (on the superb 3^rd Option) and also a sense of melody although very slight (like on the punky Pure Ether), to his guitar arsenal but at the end of the day this is vintage Tommy Victor.

Other stand out tracks include the title song Power Of The Damager which sounds vaguely reminiscent of Cleansing era Prong and the industrial groove thrash of The Banishment. Killing Joke has always been an influence on Prong and that influence raises its head on the superb Spirit Guide. Messages Inside Of Me is another terrific song that mines the band's own back catalogue while still retaining that essential spark of originality. The songs are almost all in the three to four minute range and filled with killer riffs and a rhythm section that's superbly tight. The exception to the rule and album closer Changing Ending Troubling Time, is the longest song on the album at over six minutes and starts off with a rampaging Minor Threat style riff before moving onto a mid paced thrash metal riff.

The only minor complaint I have with the album is the guitar solos. Admittedly, Victor's never played too many of these and there are only three solos on this album by my count but they seem disjointed and pasted on. Still, this is more nitpicking than an actual complaint and I'm very fucking happy overall that Prong is back with a kickass new album.

For long time fans of the band, Power Of The Damager sounds like the perfect combination of the raw anti-melody grooves of Prove You Wrong, the cold sterile industrial thrash of Cleansing and the industrial-lite more accessible sound of Rude Awakening.

For people who've never heard a Prong album and don't know who Tommy Victor is, I should ideally kill all of you but instead I will simply ask you to give Power Of The Damager a listen and see where most of today's metal-core/industrial lite scene got its inspiration from.

I've been listening to this album pretty much non-stop for the last three days and after having spun it some seven or eight times, I realised that this album is a real grower. The more you listen to it, the more you'll like it.

Year Of Release - 2007

Label - 13th Planet Records