RSS Feed


TOWER
Let There Be Dark

Cruz Del Sur Music (2025)
Rating: 9/10

I have to say that the opening track ‘Under The Chapel’ on New York City-based Tower’s third full-length effort is one of the best metal songs I’ve heard this year, if not the last decade! Propelled exquisitely by the vocal prowess of leading lady Sarabeth Linden (who has to be the heavy metal version of the legendary Cher due to her vicious vibrato), Tower is the sound of true metal, a rich yet smooth expression of Gothic majesty that nods towards both Mercyful Fate and Coven as occult connotations drip from the eaves to the chatter of crows.

This is majestic, dark yet fluid heavy metal, wistful, haunting yet potent in its mystical nature as Sarabeth leads us through the fog, between the gravestones and up to the castle door. The thrashing gallop of the title track transports me back to the dim dungeon stench of 1984, because although there’s a contemporary shine here the vocals just take it to another, much deeper level.

There’s so much seduction and sorcery on those vocals but Sarabeth is not the only star, the album is awash with ripping riffs, fiery leads and percussive avalanches that provide extra padding to those ancient stone walls of sound. What’s even more incredible though is that the album just gets better with each song: the stripped down and raging ‘Holy Water’ where Sarabeth becomes an unrivalled colossus, ‘Iron Clad’ which comes coated on a Motörhead-styled rust, ‘Book Of The Hidden’ boasting a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal attitude and ‘Don’t You Say’ which wallows in a brooding, Judas Priest-esque domain.

The bass work of Phillipe Arman is a joy to behold, as are the echoes of skinsman and new recruit Keith Mikus, while axe-wielders James Danzo and Zak Penley construct vast, scorching hot walls of sound circa 1984, at once splendidly Gothic and scintillating as the various individuals come together in a black mass to evoke the spirits of bands like Satan and Candlemass via Messiah Marcolin’s warbles.

Since their last outing – 2021’s Shock To The System – Tower have definitely added a darker, Gothic coating and boy does it work. Even the more straight laced and robust cuts boast a stuffy menace, while closer ‘The Hammer’ channels a NWOBHM streak, especially in the guitar tone. But throughout this album there are varying shades of heavy metal, particularly those bone chilling gothic elements and almost cinematic traces which haunt your mind. With far more sorcery than the previous outing, Let There Be Dark certainly lives up to its title. It also happens to be bloody brilliant album!

Neil Arnold

<< Back to Album & EP Reviews



Related Posts via Categories
Share