Watchtower United States
"Watchtower - the godfathers of progressive metal and technical thrash metal - are back! "The Size of the Matter" is an almost five minutes long track, but, with all the twists and turns going on, it seems much longer.
the complexity is there, but, compared to "Energetic Disassembly" and "Control and Resistance", this track seems much more compact; this may be due to a much tighter production in which there is more substance to the guitars, which always struck me as sounding a bit too thin (almost athmospheric) on the two aforementioned albums. There is also a certain groove to this track and some influences from power metal and, perhaps, even a The Swans type of post punk.
The singer, Allan Tecchio, who's now been fired (which means a delay in the release of "Mathematics"), does a great job on this album; he does not venture that much into the high register, but there is a certain roughness to his voice that suits the music very well.
(review originally posted on metalmusicarchives.com)"
"In many ways, the mother of technical extreme metal, "Energetic Disassembly" and WatchTower constitute the precursor of acts like Death, Cynic, Pestilence and Atheist. And if you like technical and progressive metal, then this collection of complex, mindboggling thrash metal tunes should be right up your alley. While the guitar sound is crap, the stereo effects on the drums are sick (in a good way), and the bass is nicely prominent like in Iron Maiden, Cynic and Atheist."
"Technical thrash madness! You'll get strangled listening to this album. No room for breathing between these completely mad time-signatures. Watchtower really know how to play their instruments indeed. I was browsing through the site and found this great band, then got this album. Man, I did not regret. The complex and thrashy songs really grabbed me and I fell in love with it at once. Alan Teccio's vocals may be an acquired taste, but he does a very good job on the album nevertheless, following the riffs very well too. Ron Jarzombek, who formed Spastic Ink after the Watchtower split, really shows what he's good for, backed up with Dough Keyser's complex bass playing. Rick Colaluca's drumming is excellent, though a bit sloppy sometimes, but his switching between electronic and acoustic drums is really cool to listen too.
This album isn't very original, but it's an important and influential point in the Progressive Metal genre. This album is incredible progressive and never really boring, and the hyperactive songs are all great. Especially "The Fall of Reason", which features a beautiful and relaxing, yet complex middle section, and the title cut with it's very memorable main riff. Complex, tricky, progressive and influential, that's how I would describe this one. It's not perfect, but it's not very far from it either."
