Watchtower
Control and Resistence

The second album by the Texans WatchTower, released three years after the previous "Energetic Disassembly", is dated 1989 and brings significant changes in lineup and style. The execution technique and mental distortion of these professionals of musical complication remain unchanged and endless. Billy White (guitarist and founder of the band) is no longer there, replaced by the talented Ron Jarzombek (formerly of S.A. Slayer) and the singer Jason McMaster is also gone, replaced by Alan Tecchio of the Hades, but the aggressive and high-spirited component of the band is still present. This is one of the most difficult albums you can find in the metal realm and is almost unique in its genre, both for the extreme vocal lines used by Tecchio (which can be annoying due to the high pitches reached at certain points), the complexity of the guitar riffs structures, the rhythmic parts of the drums, and the bass that almost always goes its own way and weaves a web that sometimes holds the entire track, sometimes overshadows it, and sometimes accompanies the guitar as if it were a second guitar.
"Control And Resistance" is a techno-metal album, or rather it is the starting station of techno-metal. The 8 songs are all extremely complex: bass, drums, and guitar play independently and it really seems like they go their own way resulting in chaotic and almost incomprehensible music for the many passages that are far from simple notes written on a staff and instead seem written after performing complex trigonometric calculations.

Rick Colaluca delivers a superb performance and hits his drums with power and speed (although the sound is not produced very well); Doug Keyser on bass, as already mentioned, plays lines that often serve as a second guitar and impresses with his mastery of the instrument; Ron Jarzombek excels both in the riffs written by his predecessor White and his own intricate riffs and the handfuls of surgical solos. The lyrics discuss some news events of those years, such as the Chernobyl disaster, and also address topics such as war and social life. In terms of structure complexity and execution technique, I should mention all the songs, but among the 8 tracks, the opener "Instruments of Random Murder", the dynamic "The Eldritch" with truly surprising rhythm changes, "The Fall of Reason" with the first minute and a half of delirium that gives way to a rhythmic and fairly understandable song (at times catchy, as in the chorus), broken from the third to the fifth minute with hallucinated solo inventions of the instrumental trio (which reach the highest and most difficult point of the album) and the title track: splendid in its complexity; of absolute level the central part with solos and impossible play of the various instruments. In each song, you can appreciate the intricate weaves of guitar and bass well supported by drums during the verses and the various solos of the instruments.

An album not recommended for those who only love easy and immediate music, while it is highly recommended for those willing to patiently listen to this work multiple times to enter the dense forest of riffs, rhythm and tempo changes, and almost unbelievable structures.