To be totally honest we at Desert Psychlist have never been fans of metal played at breakneck speeds, we much prefer our metal low, slow and lurching, it is probably why we never got off on the whole thrash thing and basically tried to convince ourselves power metal was a figment of our combined imaginations. Basically we have actively avoided anything with more BPM's than an oars masters drum, well up until today that is. Today we pressed play on NYC metallurgists Tower's new release "Let There Be Dark" and discovered that full on, no holds barred galloping metal can actually be something to be savoured, especially when its fronted by a vocalist in possession of incredible depth, clarity and power.
Opening song "Under The Chapel" begins with a rapid paced circular guitar motif that is then joined by drumming of a similar rapid dynamic that is in turn then joined by the rest of the band in a galloping metal groove so strident that at times it threatens to break the sound barrier. Along with that pace though comes accuracy, guitarists James Danzo and Zak Penley never fluff their lines every crunching chord, every squealing note hits its target while bassist Philippe Arman and drummer Keith Mikus lay down a rapid backdrop of groove so precise yet so swinging it makes you start to wonder if they are actually of this world. Tower are however not an instrumental band, they write songs with lyrics and of course a lyric needs a singer and Tower have one of the best with Sarabeth Linden. Linden brings her A game not only to this song but also those that follow, it seems wrong to describe a female voice as Dio-esque but we at Desert Psychlist cannot think of a current female vocalist to compare her talents to, she has it all depth, power, clarity and tone, she can easily go from a whisper to a wail without breaking sweat.
We've concentrated here on the opening number "Under The Chapel" but there is not a song on this album that falls into the realms of makeweight, songs like "Holy Water", "Book of the Hidden", "Iron Clad", and "The Hammer" are all masterclasses how to make metal music still sound vibrant, powerful and fresh. Despite us bigging up Tower's stridency and pace "Let There Be Dark" is not however an album of back to back furiosity, the classical tinted "The Well of Souls" and the eastern tinged "Legio X Fretensis" do serve as brief windows for listeners to catch their breaths, as does the torch-like "Don't You Say", but overall this is an album of foot to the floor heavy metal delivered with a truckload of panache, style and class.
Tower's "Let There Be Dark" is fast intense and powerful, it utilizes elements of thrash metal, power metal and NWOBHM, it is a metal played by extremely talented musicians and fronted by an unbelievably gifted singer. If you were of the opinion that heavy metal of this style and quality was starting to become somewhat of a rarity within our scene then "Let There Be Dark" is proof that if you are prepared to dig a little there's still gold to be found in them there hills.
Check it out .....
© 2025 Frazer Jones
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