Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. Rejoice metalheads! Chicago’s premiere weekend long celebration of all things traditional and true, Legions of Metal, is back and with its biggest edition to date. Having missed the past two years due to COVID, this year will see yours truly treated to the likes of Dawnbringer, Hirax, and the reunited Watchtower, just to name a few. To commemorate the occasion, this week’s edition of FMC revisits Control and Resistance, the sophomore masterpiece from the fest’s Saturday night headliners. Join us as we warp back in time 35 years and explore the “Life Cycles” of these tech thrash titans.
By the late ’80s, the prog metal revolution was in full swing. Savatage, Fates Warning, and Queensrÿche had long since abandoned their early USPM ways in exchange for more conceptual works. Iron Maiden jumped further down the prog rabbit hole with 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son: An album that largely sounds like a metallic spin on neo-prog royalty Marillion. Even metal’s most barbaric and underground faction, thrash, was becoming more refined. Both Metallica and Megadeth were starting to place musicality above brute force, while the likes of Voivod, Coroner, Mekong Delta, and the subject of today’s essay, Watchtower, epitomized the rise of tech thrash.
Watchtower formed way back in 1982 in the heart of a fervent metal scene. Thanks to revolutionary DJ Joe Anthony who’d play the likes of Judas Priest, Scorpions, Def Leppard, and more in the late ’70s and early ’80s, San Antonio was one of the first cities in the country to develop a proper metal scene and culture, with no shortage of bands and fans. Watchtower were among these bands, playing shows throughout the the city and state, and subsequently dropping their debut album, Energetic Disassembly, in 1985.
Now I’ve heard some argue if Slayer’s Hell Awaits and Possessed’s Seven Churches are the prototypes for death metal, then Watchtower’s Energetic Disassembly is the prototype for tech death. And while I don’t completely agree with this statement, I understand where these people are coming from. The unpredictable songwriting, schizophrenic musicianship, and raw energy on this album lies much closer to say Atheist or Spiritual Healing era Death than ANY other band out on the scene in ’85. Hell, even Voivod were still treading closer to the Venom formula than anything musically progressive, but I digress.
Outside of the local San Antonio scene and the most cult of cult circles, Energetic Disassembly did little to generate much buzz, which doesn’t surprise me in hindsight. This was an album so unique and ahead of its time that most headbangers likely didn’t know what to make of it. At least other ’85 releases like Sodom’s In the Sign of Evil and Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion could be remotely linked to the ongoing thrash boom of the day. And while this was a thrash release at heart too, it just stood too far from the pack.
Needless to say, Watchtower spent the next few years waiting for the entirety of the metal scene to catch up with them. A couple demos came and went in ’87, which was then followed by the unexpected departure of original singer Jason McMaster in ’88 upon being signed by Columbia Records as the voice of Dangerous Toys. Yes, thee ’80s glam metal band Dangerous Toys. It’s wild in hindsight to think McMaster could front two bands who were diametrically opposites musically, but if anything, it’s a testament to his musical range.
Never ones to succumb to change, Watchtower marched onward with new singer Alan Tecchio of Hades in tow. It was Tecchio who accompanied Watchtower in the studio in ’89 to record the songs from their ’87 demos, as well as a collection of new songs. Together, these songs made up their second studio album, Control and Resistance. As mentioned earlier, this album saw Watchtower further pursue their prog metal insanity in a now post-prog metal world. There had never been a better time to strike than now.
Control and Resistance opens with the thrashing hard attack of “Instruments of Random Murder”. Upon first listen, the production on this album is far more clean than its predecessor, but aside from that, all of the Watchtower trademarks are there. “Instruments” alone fuses thrashing intensity, progressive theatrics, and jazzy maneuvers in a way that only Watchtower could, all of this wrapped up in an avant-garde framework. Tecchio’s vocal delivery was arguably more unhinged than McMaster’s, further adding fuel to this tech thrash fire.
The mania continues with the thrash-heavy “The Eldritch”. While this cut is more midtempo by Watchtower standards, it boasts those tough, mosh-ready riffs characteristic of the era. After all, you didn’t want to scare away the ardent followers of the Testament/Overkill/Sacred Reich trad thrash crop, although the wild guitar soloing throughout may have done exactly that. The jazz metal chaos of “Mayday in Kiev” continues Watchtower’s trailblazing path, boasting musical tropes far closer to the aforementioned Atheist or even Focus era Cynic than any other band of the day. It’s also one of a few moments on here that lie closer to prog metal than thrash.
Side A closes with tech thrash opus, “The Fall of Reason”. Clocking in at just a hair over 8 minutes, it’s on this suite that the band’s musicianship is on full display. Not only does guitarist Ron Jarzombek alternate between rhythm and lead, so does bassist Doug Keyser. Now traditionally, bass serves as a rhythm instrument. Not in the case of Watchtower. Keyser’s playing, tone, and overall approach sounds very close to that of virtuoso Atheist bassist Roger Patterson. It’s incredible how these players took the chops of Jaco Pastorious, Chris Squire, and Geddy Lee, reframed them in an extreme metal context, and changed the face of this music forever.
As we flip over to side B, it’s Keyser’s bass who greets us yet again on the cryptic title track. Again, there’s an unsettling jazzy avant-garde vibe here that recalls the derangement of John Wetton era King Crimson or Mahavishnu Orchestra at their most crazed. It’s also, again, sonically closer to what we’d call prog metal, as even the thrashy parts are too damn hard to mosh and, well, thrash to. Drunken denim-clad ragers Watchtower were not. The blitz continues with the unpredictably intense “Hidden Instincts”. It should be noted, however, that while Watchtower were able to throw in enough musical wizardry to make Zappa blush, they were able to do so while still making it catchy and memorable: An anomaly within this realm of metal.
The hypnotic “Life Cycles” can be filed alongside “Mayday in Kiev” in the proto-Focus era Cynic category. One part atmospheric, one part dissonant, and all parts progressive, this lengthy cut comes off as foreign and alien in delivery. Again, this was not a band concerned with making metal that was heavy, extreme, or even “true”. Watchtower played by their own rules, naysayers be damned. Closing it all out is the rather ironically titled “Dangerous Toy”. With its bizarre Allan Holdsworth-esque chords, jazzy bass lines, and constant tempo changes, this song couldn’t be sonically further than the gold certified glam metal McMaster was cranking out with the similarly monikered band of the same era.
Just like Energetic Disassembly before it, Control and Resistance should’ve ideally established Watchtower as a household name in the metal world. Instead, the masses just didn’t get it. The band existed in some form or another for a few more years, before folding in ’93. There’s no telling what they could’ve accomplished had they stuck it out through tech death’s heyday in the following decade. While that’s a matter of hypothetical discussion for now, what isn’t is the fact that Watchtower is finally back and playing these songs live for the first time in ages. If you’re in the Chicagoland area, I hope to see you this Saturday as we hear some of these said songs. And if not, beware those suppressing their “Hidden Instincts”.