Have we really been blessed with two Cruz del Sur releases this week? Admittedly, Demon Bitch’s latest opus, Master of the Games, was released via their devilish imprint, Gates of Hell Records, but hey, close enough. Today’s album in review comes via the Cruz del Sur label proper, and like nearly every other release from this underground staple, is as gloriously badass as a throwback metal album can get. The band is The Watcher (despite the singularity of the moniker, there’s three “watchers” in The Watcher) and the album is Out of the Dark.
“Just another band out of Boston”, as the old song goes, The Watcher have been battering eardrums and melting faces since 2016. Their debut EP, Your Turn to Die, was unleashed in 2021, leaving those in the know hungry for a full length offering. Admittedly, drummer Chris Spraker and guitarist/bassist Max Furst were busy with blackened speedsters Malleus, but now that they’ve broken up, it seems like The Watcher has become their main priority, and for good reason. Out of the Dark is a wildly dynamic and refreshing classic metal album, standing apart from the typical NWOTHM pack.
If we take a look at the band’s ever-handy Metal Archives page, we’ll see their brand of metal described as “heavy/doom”. While there are undeniably some doom undertones, particularly in the heft of the guitar tone itself, I’d be lying if I said this were a doom metal album proper. Sure, the opening title track is an uptempo doom rager reminiscent of ’80s Pentagram, and the closing “Thy Blade, Thy Blood” is a power-doom epic, keeping us on the edge of our seats for the better part of 8 minutes. The rest of Out of the Dark, however, runs the gamut of old school ’80s metal subgenres, fitting a cornucopia of sounds into its brief 36 minute runtime.
Throughout Out of the Dark is a strong NWOBHM flavor that kicks in on the hard rocking “Strike Back”, and really dominates the remainder of the album. Whether it be riff-laden burn burners like “Burning World”, “Kill or Be Killed”, or the aforementioned “Strike Back”, they all come off as lost NWOBHM B-sides circa ’81, with an unrelenting attitude akin to early Tygers or Diamond Head. The mellow psych ballad that is “Exiled” serves as an unexpected palette cleanse, while “The Revelator” and “The Final Hour” border on early USPM territory, at least within the muscular riffing and valiant attitude.
Out of the Dark is a rock solid, rock-hard debut outing from The Watcher, one that kept me pumping my fist and air guitaring from start to finish. It’s short and sweet, doubling down on riffs, hooks, and the type of lethal energy that only a power trio can conjure, even if one member of said power trio is pulling double duty. I definitely look forward to watching this band grow (pun fully intended), and hope they hit the live circuit sooner than later. I can only imagine how rip roaring these bangers are onstage. Perhaps we’ll find out in 2025.
7 out of 10
Label: Cruz del Sur Music
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Pentagram, Diamond Head, Sanhedrin
Leave a Reply