ALBUM REVIEW: Let There Be Dark – Tower
TOWER are a hidden secret of sorts. If you don’t know about them, you need to dig deeper into the heavy metal scene. If you do know where to find them, you’ve unearthed a rabbit hole filled with insurmountable treasures. Since their last album, 2021’s Shock To The System, TOWER have taken the energy from that album and given it a few well deserved upgrades.
The songwriting itself is a step up as the guitars from James Danzo & Zak Penley feature more complex rhythms adding to the already densely packed album. Loosely built around the concept of religion, vocalist Sarabeth Linden is the high priestess orchestrating the grand ceremony that is Let There Be Dark. But throughout the album she flawlessly shifts roles to fit the songs.
TOWER have a masterful ability when they’re going from writing songs to performing them, they give them personality and a more primal feeling that you can’t help move to. Opening track Under The Chapel starts with a headache inducing buzzsaw guitar riff before drummer Keith Mikus kicks the band into 5th gear and more riffs come at you faster than you can dodge them. Book Of The Hidden is up there with the best riff on the album.
The fuzzy guitars combined with Mikus’ double kick assault makes for a good time for your ears, but a horrible time for your neck. Combine all this with the pulsating bass of Phillipe Arman cuts through the entire mix to forge a thunderous cacophony that compliments the guitar tone perfectly. And never more powerful on the ending track The Hammer. The thick reverberating bass tone echoes throughout the song and vibrates your eardrums with perfection.
Linden does a fantastic job through the songs with her vocal prowess. Her haunting baritones are truly the highlight on the album. And while she rarely goes into a higher register vocally, when she does it’s even more chilling as it’s ghost-like, drawing you in like the tales sailors would tell of mermaids lulling you in to your death, and it’s never more prominent than on Iron Clad where Linden almost shrieks like a banshee at some points. It’s interesting as the further you go into the album the darker it becomes. The lyrical content, the instrumentals Linden’s vocals all become deeper and darker that adds a great depth to the album.
The only part of the album that feels out of place is Legio X Fretensis which is just a 35 second acoustic interlude which just repeats itself and is just a small passage of guitar noodling. If you remove that from the equation then Let There Be Dark could be a great album filled with a flurry of hooks, riffs and choruses aplenty.
Rating: 7/10
Let There Be Dark is out now via Cruz Del Sur Music.
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