Watchtower - The Size of Matter [single] (2010)

I almost forgot this thing had come out, which is most likely a progposeur crime of monstrous proportions considering how much of a proponent I've been for Watchtower's sophomore Control and Resistance this last quarter-century. Yet as I was digging through some random files in some random, abandoned folder, there it was, staring at me straight in the face, taunting me to listen through it once more, and it's not an act I regret, because if nothing else, "The Size of Matter" has me salivating for the next 'proposed' chapter in the Towerverse, the long elusive new album Mathematics, which I'm not honestly sure is even a thing anymore, but when I go to their official website, I find nothing but four years of crickets...way to keep up on that, folks.

Anyway, the song itself was something to get temporarily excited over, for with the exception that it is bolstered by a meatier mix of guitars than ever Control or the debut was, and Alan Tecchio's shriek ability somewhat more restrained through either age or wear (or both), this links pretty directly to the material they were writing before the dawn of the 90s. Schizophrenic progressive thrash written with an astounding level of musicianship, and just as much attention paid to detail. The bass and guitars here are specifically both pretty nasty, pretending as if the last few decades hadn't existed and they were continuing forth with the previous direction, only feeling even more up front and in the face. Jarzombek's drums are still quite electronic in context, a good fit for the surgical, jazzy leads that punctuate the bridge in the tune, which are easily my favorite bit in the song, but obviously the guy is such a damn brilliant timekeeper that it wouldn't make much of a difference if they were mixed and recorded with a more acoustic aesthetic in mind. Some of the fills and tempo changes are fantastic.

Tecchio does branch out into his high range with a lower, conversational harmony at one point, but I do rather enjoy the mix of his performance, it definitely carves straight into the listener and drives home the lyrics. The one area where this does fall behind Control & Resistance is that, as proficient as the musicians remain, as technical the discourse of their instruments, I did not feel as if I was being catapulted into some alien-to-me tragedy or situation like I felt back in 1989. The riffs and vocals, while impressive and consistent, aren't necessarily as memorable or on the level as the older material, but I can't lie: if they could finally get that long-anticipated post-reunion full-length out, and it was at least this quality or better, I doubt you'd hear many complaints among their fanbase...least of all from myself. As Heathen, Paradox and several other melodic tech-thrashers have already proven, the Old Guard are perfectly willing to step up into the boots of the New Guard if nobody (apart from Vektor) wants the job. Hope more something comes of this, the tune is on point.

Verdict: Win [7.75/10]

http://ra.lunarservers.com/~agura3/watchtowerband.net/

Watchtower - Control and Resistance (1989)

Control and Resistance is not only one of the very best progressive thrash metal albums ever created, but it's yet another example of how Noise Records had almost cornered the market on all things metal of quality in the late 80s. This album exceeds Energetic Disassembly on all fronts, both for its better use of dynamics and insane level of immersion which can actually transport the listener into the various scenarios it presents through the lyrics and music of each track. This was by no means an album I could digest all at once; it must have taken me a dozen listens before all of its intricacies converged upon me like a lattice of pulsing, electronic information.

Judging from the vastly superior songwriting, it's clear some changes have been made in the years since the debut. Alan Tecchio has taken on the vocal duties here, and while he does not distance himself greatly from the style of McMaster, he is simply better at managing the task at hand. He can shriek like a harpy with the best of them, yet he restrains himself so he never becomes some awkward component of the instrumentation. But an even more profound improvement has been made in the guitar department, where Ron Jarzombek has taken over the position of Billy White. Jarzombek is sheer insanity on this release, a monster of ideas and quality riffing that had guitar maniacs' heads spinning when the album dropped. A wealth of leads and speed picked thrash rhythms conjoin to create an atmosphere through the notation alone. The rhythm section of Keyser and Colaluca remain, and both have also tightened their performances; to stunning results. Keyser has crafted himself one of most technically satisfying applications of the bass guitar in the history of metal music, not only complementing Jarzombek's witticisms but becoming an equal. Colaluca has perfected his mix of jamming fusion and electronic fills into something one rarely heard outside of the stricter, progressive rock/fusion circles.

But, musicianship aside, even if we were to assume aliens landed on our planet for a few weeks to record this album, each with dual concentric brains and six limbs, it is the music itself which launches Control and Resistance into the stratosphere. There are so many individual riffs on this album that I must have spent hours stopping and rewinding my original cassette version to try and comprehend what was going on. And yet, the riffs are never so indulgent that they strand the thematic nature of each track outside of its performance. "Instruments of Random Murder" arrives in a wash of adventurous guitars, plopping bass and shuffling drum work that at once immerses the listener while warning him/her (oh who am I kidding, how many girls listened to this record?) that THE GAME IS AFOOT. As it begins to thrash out of control, like the section at 1:15, you can actually feel the hysteria and panic of a murder, an autopsy, and a brain being wracked to find the answers. "The Eldritch" is fast and dangerous, with more intense thrashing that threatens to explode out of the seams. The little tapping lead is beautiful, and Tecchio's vocals fit like an escaped madman over the amazing flow of the verse...and yet it's the speed rhythm at 1:10 that ensures you will NEVER forget it. "Mayday in Kiev" has some of the best bass playing I've yet heard on any progressive metal composition, and this is one of those tunes that truly sucks you into the post-nuclear disaster landscape, a smorgasboard of excellent riffing.

Severe political fallout - toxic exchange of words
Soviet obscurantism under verbal attack
Abroad, outraged countries appeal for information
Met with grudging riposte, hesitant placation
At home, TASS reports no danger - nothing to fear
As deadly elemental isotopes spew into the biosphere

That happened! And now, YOU CAN BE THERE. The opening salvo of "The Fall of Reason" has a lot of bite as it proceeds into a scintillating sequence of clinical, punctual melodic thrashing sequences. Eight minutes in length without even the remotest trace of boredom. "Control and Resistance" is another jarring composition with fantastic bass and intense spurts of mechanical thrashwork, Tecchio reaching desperate heights as his throat glares through the madness of social ineptitude and mass conformity. "Hidden Cycles" thinks outside the box functional, terminal rhythms and percussion that make Fates Warning and Dream Theater of the period seem childish by comparison. "Life Cycles" has some interesting, clean tones that evoke a psychedelic mystique (modern Cynic reminds me of this song), but the bass storms and the track soon evolves into another thrashterpiece. "Dangerous Toy" may be some offhand reference to previous vocalist Jason McMaster's new gig with the lame hard rock band, or perhaps it was penned by McMaster himself, yet it's another strong Watchtower tune here with some circular, bouncing rhythms and entropic bass-guitar interplay.

Control and Resistance is incredible...a work of brilliance which far exceeds many similar attempts in the decades since. Bands like Psychotic Waltz or Spiral Architect have tried, but only scratched the surface of what Watchtower had already accomplished two decades ago. Atheist and Cynic haven't even come close. 1989 was a banner year for technical metal (Deathrow's Deception Ignored and Coroner's No More Color are two other examples that I enjoyed even more than this, if you can believe it), and yet this sophomore effort remains fairly timeless, despite its often dated production. And this is perhaps the only minor complaint I hold for Control and Resistance. The guitar tones are often a little thin for my tastes. When they are sharing space with the transcendental lead work, I can give it a pass, but just an inkling more power would have processed perfection. But, really, if you think this is going to be a distraction, you think wrong...because this album is a monument of possibilities, regardless.

Lowlights: You and I will never be this good. Ever.

Verdict: Epic Win [9.5/10] (war of the senses, war of emotion)

http://ra.lunarservers.com/~agura3/watchtowerband.net/

Watchtower - Energetic Disassembly (1985)

Watchtower were an impressive technical thrash band for their day, one of the few that could actually be labeled 'progressive' in the 80s field without much dissent. Though it was the less refined of their two full length efforts, you can imagine Energetic Disassembly was something of an anomaly for a year in which bands like Slayer, Anthrax and Possessed were still cutting their teeth. Even the arguable progressive metal contemporaries Fates Warning were still exploring their traditional metal phase at this point, so this album is simply far out there, thinking ahead of the pack.

Having praised its distinct nature, then, I must say that I really do not enjoy this debut entirely. For all its shrieking eccentricity, it often fails to immerse me or conjure up the masterful compositional skill of its successor. It's almost a drag to listen through, knowing that there are very few riffs here that catch my attention beyond their oddness and the obvious wealth of idea that went into them. Most of the tracks jerk and meander about without delivering so much as a compelling melody, and Jason McMaster's vocals range between intense heights and awkward foolishness. This is one of the albums in my collection which has actually grown more tiresome with each successive listen, but there is still enough here to appeal to that very small niche of the progressive thrash fan.

"Violent Change" starts with a few jarring riffs that groove alongside the drums of Rick Colaluca, while McMaster lets loose too quickly. The only part of the song I actually enjoyed is the driving bass and leadwork after 2:00, though McMaster emits a few cool shrieks later in the track and the thrashing begins to foreshadow Control and Resistance's tighter mechanism. "Asylum" does work it for awhile, as the drums and Doug Keyser's bass pop and shuffle through a nightmare scenario scored in shrieking; the lead here is also pretty intense, but the remainder of the riffs passed through me as if I wasn't even there. "Tyrants in Distress" has a more traditional metal edge to it, not unlike Helstar, and "Social Fears" a few decent, shrill warnings where the vocals join the deep thrashing of the verse.

Heatflash - atomic disarray
Millions perish in a single instant
Chaos wrenched from all relation of time and space
In the threshold of immence confusion

And then follows the title track, which is a decent listen if only for the oodles of bass that anchor its progressive arrangement of thrashing fusion. "Argonne Forest" begin with some stop/start bass-driven pounding that flows into a chaotic verse thanks to McMaster's freakish presence, and there is a decent lead line. "Cimmerian Shadows" does a reasonable job of building mystique into a more traditional, melodic speed metal riff, and the closer "Meltdown" is possibly the most old school metal track on the album; aside from a few of the guitar chops, this could simply be a jammy, intense NWOBHM band.

The mix of the album feels a little sloppy to me, with the popping bass, siren-like wailing, crunchy guitars and the electronic drum fills that often bust through. But at least you can hear everything. The lyrics are suitably centered on the dynamics of both social injustices and their scientific application to the human psyche, with a slight not to fantasy, but they are quite well written and remain as interesting as the better riffs. At a few points, where the mix comes together, the album really does excel, and the reach does not exceed the grasp. Certainly it deserves mention for its novelty, and ambition, but I'd take their second album over this.

Highlights: Asylum, Social Fears Argonne Forest, Cimmerian Shadows

Verdict: Win [7/10] (no safe disposal)

http://ra.lunarservers.com/~agura3/watchtowerband.net/