TOWER
“Let There Be Dark”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

9/10

TOWER are a heavy metal band from the USA formed in 2015, releasing to date one E.P. – ‘Tomorrow & Yesterday’ (2018), and three albums – ‘Tower’ (2016), ‘Shock To The System’ (2021), and ‘Let There Be Dark’…

…emerging in 2025 as a fully fledged, complete heavy metal album! Over the years the band have been steadily moving away from their metal and rock beginnings towards just a heavy metal outlook – and in the wake of the bands third full length album, TOWER are firmly stood right in the heart of heavy metal territory, ‘Let There Be Dark’ a fast paced, forty frantic minutes of head bang-able heavy metal. Across the ten songs on offer, the band are foot to floor, accelerating outta the gate at full throttle with ‘Under The Chapel’ – TOWER immediately into their stride, the traditional metal gallop in full flight! And what a majestic flight it is too, ‘Under The Chapel’ breaking every speed limit known to man as it hurtles across heavy metal territory!

A sensational, jaw dropping start to the bands new album, TOWER storm on with the title song ‘Let There Be Dark’ – the pace and power increasing from the previous song, the vocals of lead singer Sarabeth Linden roaring louder than a lion! Louder than a lion yes, but way more melodic, the anthemic style chorus break inviting every listener to become the bands backing singers! A stunning opening brace to set the world alight, ‘Let There Be Dark’ (the album) motors on with ‘Holy Water’, TOWER keeping the hammer well and truly down – the speed of the album so far absolutely phenomenal! The worldwide mosh pits are going fucking nuts right now, heads rocking back and forth at both frenetic and frantic pace as ‘And I Cry’ enters the fray with a dramatic brake slam! The band are elegant here, building tension across ‘And I Cry’s first two minutes or so, TOWER assuming a mighty mid tempo thunder stomp as ‘And I Cry’ shudders the ground with immense force.

The intensity of ‘Let There Be Dark’ (the album) since it began has been perfectly on point, the one and a half minute instrumental ‘The Well Of Souls’ a mellow wander round the outskirts of heavy metal territory – ‘Book Of The Hidden’ exploding furiously into life with a rougher feel than everything heard so far! The red hot pace of earlier is back with a vengeance as ‘Book Of The Hidden’ thunders forth with a huge amount of gusto, the American metallers pressing the pedal firmly to the metal to keep the heads of every mosher, metaller and diehard head banger rocking back and forth at an extreme rate of knots! ‘Legio X Fretensis’ is a second instrumental, and across its thirty four second run time the band pound and pummel the senses with a relentless barrage as scorching pace returns in the form of ‘Iron Clad’.

The most traditional metal sounding song on offer, ‘Iron Clad’ is foot to the floor, foot on the monitor magnificence from a band over four and a half thousand miles and four plus decades away from the time when the likes of Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Raven, Samson and Saxon began defining the sound of heavy metal – TOWER echoing that sound to perfection! The band fall back into their early days rock and metal zone with ‘Don’t You Say’, the album straddling the border between hard rock and heavy metal as TOWER stride on with a majestic elegance not heard previously, the albums final song ‘The Hammer’ the longest on offer at six and a half minutes in length! And what a six and a half minutes, the band showcasing every style of metal music they have in their locker to round off a very good album of high intensity, energy and head bang ability.

Overall, a traditional metal flavoured album featuring the iconic gallop, an old school foot on the monitor feel and a sky high infectious level.

TRACKLIST

Under The Chapel
Let There Be Dark
Holy Water
And I Cry
The Well Of Souls
Book Of The Hidden
Legio X Fretensis
Iron Clad
Don’t You Say
The Hammer

https://towernyc.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/TOWERnyc/

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