These days, trad metal is big business… well, it would be if any bigger labels actually bothered looking for it. Oh well, more hunting for the record collectors. One such band riding the crest of the trad metal wave are Tower as the New York band set forth for the first time since delivering their ‘Tomorrow & Yesterday’ EP in 2019 with their sophomore album ‘Shock to the System’.
Now, ‘Shock…’ is an album which doesn’t wait around, it doesn’t pussyfoot about, it has one aim and that is the pull the face of the listener off immediately. This is achieved with some top drawer trad metal. Naturally, this means that there is an overt love for NWOBHM here, but there’s also later classic metal vibe too; tracks such as ‘Blood Moon’, ‘Law Down the Law’ and ‘The Black Rose’ thunder forward like early Iron Maiden dancing with Warlock whilst Omen and Manilla Road look on and take notes. But this isn’t all about looking back, there is a modern trad sound here too which has all the appeal of Shadowland, Sanhedrin and Substratum. This is in part down to the fantastic pipes of Sarabeth Linden who’s banshee wail channels Doro Pesch, Leather Leone and Betsy Bitch in their prime.
For those who love their trad metal, this is once again an absolutely stellar album to add to their collection and it would be no surprise if ‘Shock…’ is riding high at the end of the year on real metal lists.
