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The Pure Rock Shop Spotlight Artists
Twisted Tower Dire
For fans of:
Hawaii, Flight Of The Griffin, Valhalla
or any other underground early 80's power metal artist. |
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While I love a huge sound with bombastic drums
(the new WASP "Unholy Terror" and Primal Fear's "Nuclear Fire" for example), power metal that gives a nod to the roots of the genre is still exciting and interesting when executed properly.
Twisted Tower Dire's "The Curse Of Twisted Tower Dire" is probably the best raw
edged metal CD I have heard since the mid 1980's. Even the above shown CD
cover art is indicative of the music inside the jewel case. Hearing a band
from the USA (Vienna, Virginia) with a style like this in 2001 is a most
pleasant surprise.
"Hail Dark Rider" is the perfect example of the kind of classic metal track that I love so much. It has the feel of a song from 1983 or 1984 with intricate playing and time changes. The stripped down sound gives the overall release a grittier, hungrier edge to all the tracks.
There is a power plod / gallop approach that emanates throughout the CD. A good comparison musically would be with the first Griffin (Flight Of The Griffin) release.
Upon hearing the guitars "Land Of Illusions", I immediately thought of
"Outlaw" by Riot. (Any band that I can compare to Riot is in
incredible company) "The Curse Of Twisted Tower Dire" has a forboding intro that picks up speed and slows once again.
Tony Taylor's vocals at times are similar sounding to Bobby "Blitz"
Ellsworth from Overkill in particular on "The Epic War Never
Ends". The lead guitar playing of Dave Boyd and Scott Waldrop on the
aforementioned track is pure metallic shred as it is throughout the entire
CD.
The standout track on the CD is "The Witch's Eyes" which reminds me of the legendary Valhalla EP from
1984, in particular the track "In Her Eyes". The track slowly develops
into a storming metal assault. The choruses are shouted out and the song quickly embeds itself into your head.
While in the past several years artists like magnificent Hammerfall have been in
the spotlight of the resurgent power metal movement, Twisted Tower Dire is a
much more accurate representation of the origins of power metal. Twisted
Tower Dire composes strong tracks while maintaining their raw
aggressiveness. Having played Milwaukee Metalfest 2000 and Wacken Open Air
Festival 2000, the band appears to have a deserved bright future ahead.
Contact information:
e-mail: twistedtowerdire@hotmail.com
Web Site: http://truemetal.org/twistedtowerdire/
Band
Email Addresses:
Scott
Waldrop (Guitar) twistedtower@earthlink.net
Dave
Boyd (Guitar/Webmaster) boyd_ttd@mindspring.com
Tony
Taylor (Vocals) tctaylor@visuallink.com
Jim
Murad (Bass) jmurad1074@aol.com
Marc
Stauffer (Drums) jagermaster@juno.com
General
Band Correspondence:
Twisted
Tower Dire
c/o Scott Waldrop
10021 Scenic View Terrace
Vienna VA 22182-1367 (USA)
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