martindavey87 Fancy that, a rap-rock band in 2007. Career suicide right there. If 2004 saw the nu metal subgenre clinging on for dear life as new musical trends preceded it, then by 2007 it was well and truly dead and buried. And while many of the bands who’d had some level of success over the genres peak years had enough name value to at least stagger along comfortably, bands like Downsiid were screwed from the outset.

Which is a shame, actually, as 2007’s ‘The Evolution of Ghetto Rock’, the debut album by Texan five-piece rap rockers Downsiid, isn’t a bad album, and showed that even though nu metal was dead, there was still plenty of bands out there blending rock with hip hop and using simple song arrangements to produce some great music.

With a variety of hard-hitting raps, shouts and singing, along with heavily de-tuned guitars and plenty of groove, ‘...Ghetto Rock’ is a throwback to those nu metal bands that were always a step below the upper echelon of groups, but had a decent hit or two that gave them some level of success. In particular, Sevendust and Nonpoint come to mind. There’re plenty of electronic effects used to give the music some flavour, and a nice mixture of heavy, pumping songs with softer, acoustic ones.

Unfortunately however, with no notable hits or career milestones, you’re not likely to stumble across these guys unless it’s by accident (in my case, I saw this CD for £1 in a second-hand shop and took the gamble that it looked like something I’d enjoy), which is a shame, because songs like ‘No Rain’, ‘Texas Get Up’, ‘Grab the Cash’, ‘I’ and ‘Take Out the World’ are all pretty good, and show that the genre was still alive and well, even if it wasn’t the mainstream juggernaut it once was.