It was too late for some - a couple had already succumed to mould, including a Black Sabbath one I was looking forward to hearing again - and others - like my Non-Fiction album, are currently MIA. Luckily I already either own all the bands from that that I liked, or ripped them in a previous project involving headphone cables and Audible. I'm still using Audible, as it is easier to record the entire side of a tape and then divide it up rather then run back and forth hitting stop and record. Especially since there seems to be a delay, and if you push stop-then-record too close together it doesn't record. Also, if you let the cassette stop naturally, it doesn't seem to store it either. Nevermind, I didn't have the whole of "Sanity Assassin" on that cassette anyway - and I DO have it elsewhere.
Today, after several cassette rips, it claimed its first casualty: Xentrix's "Dilute to Taste". Oh, it has been years since I've heard that horrible crackling and loss of sound that fortells the chewing of a cassette tape and makes you leap to the stereo and try to salvage it. I couldn't - I almost had to cut it to free it, but the stereo seems none the worst for wear and it's not like Xentrix are any good anyhow. I was only thinking of listening to it for "X". But it's not worth the pain that I will have to go through to listen through it!
Anyhow, ramblings aside:
Today's album is another that I first acquired on cassette tape but later purchased on CD for the kingly sum of $9.95 via Echo Records (RIP). It is, alledgely, a special import from Australia. But I guess noone wanted it, which is why it was so cheap. Good for me!
Watchtower are an 80s Thrash/Progressive Metal band from Texas. Their original vocalist, Jason McMaster, went off to join Dangerous Toys (a rather more glam act, alas, not sure what happened to our DT cassette) and they then obtained Alan Tecchio from Speed band, Hades (I have a Hades CD too, you'll eventually get it reviewed here). He later left to join Non Fiction (whose cassette I appear to have misplaced), was later replaced by McMaster, and then returned in 2010 before leaving again.
The cover is kinda nicely done - it's an illustration of a tower, and some arches, with a radiation sign upon them. Most of the cover is purplish-blue and scratched up, with the title being a stark red against it. The limited palatte is quice effective. It does, however, look very 80s. There's a rather cartoony, angry dog on the back. Lyrics inside, and a band illustration in which they all look very young and pretty, with their long, permed hair and posing. They look like they must be in their early 20s at most.
The comparison between American and European metal is quite interesting. Watchtower are loud and aggressive, with jarring, bold basslines, shrill-edged guitars and rapid pace. The vocals are high, a sort of shrieking-snarl*. Ultimately, Americans seems angrier. Their lyrics are more "real" too - dealing with real world social issues rather than the sword-and-sorcery approach of their European counterparts.
The album opens with the powerfully fast, "Instruments of Random Murder". It is based on the Tylenol Terrorist - in which batches of tylenol were laced with cyanide and caused the death of 7 people. Angry, aggressive and of rapid pace:
"We must question the motive of a killer"The Eldritch" is epic and forboding. It was the first Watchtower song I ever heard - on the video compilation "Doomsday News". Intense vocals and possibly one of my favourite lines ever:
who kills without vengence, without apparent reason
and leaves death upon the innocent"
"Imagination overpowers reason."Another hectic, frantic, angry song thrumming with tension is "Mayday in Kiev" which is about the Chernobyl Diaster of 1986. The lyrics are very mature with lines like:
"As deadly elemental isotopes spew into the biosphere"I believe that is the only time I have ever heard "biosphere" in a song. I could be wrong on that though!
And what should we follow that up, but with a song about war and "The Fall of Reason". A slower more ominous start with some nice twiddly complicated guitar bits, adding to the disconcerting, slightly discordant feel. The structures are complex and intriguing.
"Control and Resistance" begins with irratic guitar intermingling with screaming-shrieking vocals. The tensions are high throughout this song, and it is very complex. Watchtower have achieved highily skillful, complicated progressive metal without the addition of keyboards, and without slowing the pace. I am impressed at the way they music weaves itself. I just wish the vocals were a little more variable.
Continuing with the serious themes, "Hidden Instincts" is about brutal crime.The song is equally relentless.
With an erratic beginning, "Life Cycles" settles into a rather smoother passages. I do like some of the messages of this:
"Like the lines on a biorhythmic chart, between the lows the beauty lies. Don't take your failures to heart."Particularly appropriate since I've just suffered a (admittedly rather minor) blow to my artistic ego and am afraid I am soon to face a worse one.
The album concludes with "Dangerous Toy" a clamorous, cacophanous speed-infused song about not so much a toy as an electric chair. The music is almost like electricity, the guitars exploding up and down in their rifts, whilst Tecchio's shrill warble shrieks over them.
To conclude - a little too much in large doses. The music is complex, riotous and filled with interesting little "twiddly" bits and melodies. The vocals get on your nerves after a time, if only Tecchio could bring it down a pitch or two, perhaps more like he does nowadays. The lyrics are damned fine and quite intelligent, earning this a 6.5/10.
* Tracked down Alan Tecchio on MySpace - now he sings at a lower pitch and sounds more like Dio - great voice!
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