Something wicked this way comes!

In the manner of Iced Earth’s last album, Zero Hour’s The Towers of Avarice is also an epic strewn of battle hymns. The action is intense - the plot full of strife. The romanticized story of conflict and eventual salvation is set in a miserable, alien world where a mysterious form known as the Subterranean incites the crowd. He is the vigilante - revolutionary extreme. Oppressors who rule from what is known as The Towers of Avarice are the enemy.

While curious manners and methods draw from fantastic comic books and Christian themes, most listeners will prefer to hail the actual music of Zero Hour. With their debut a few years ago, most have been excited by their potential. It was something refreshing and exciting - something with gusto and heroic qualities. With their first full length release, Zero Hour could possibly be real revolutionaries today.

Thrash!

I did not mention “Thrash” to compare Zero Hour to the styles of their Bay Area predecessors:
THRASH!!! - as in the way something struggles within the grasp of another, but thrashing to fight. The relentless drum and bass pound like the shell shock of warfare. Jumping out of the shadows of hot shot keyboardists drummer Mike Guy and bass player Troy Tipton are the new sound of Zero Hour. With Jasun Tipton’s strafing guitar attack, their rhythm blazes a warpath. They shove at you, picking a fight. Yet the changing modes, exotic keys, and odd time signatures makes up an enemy you have never seen before. One moment you are matching its step, figuring out some tendencies. Then the crunching riffs morphs into an entirely different form presenting a new attack. Don’t miss a step! You will have some time trying to identify your foe. Where are the keyboards? What is its melody? Some things are familiar but it changes often! It only has one guitar solo. The technical merits of excellent sound mastering and production on this album makes this experience possible. Your audio system will become the fight between the Towers and the Subterranean.

The Subterranean

Eric Rosvold is the storyteller who portrays a sense of being the omniscient third person. Yet with as much verve as required, he also seems to adopt the multiple persona engaged in The Towers of Avarice battle. One of which is the Subterranean. Whispers with their own echoes - harmonies in chorus - they grow into growls and then into the Subterranean’s screams. In other ways he is calm, cool, and collected. His multi-voices, one of which matches the great hero Ronnie James Dio, are also the tonal effects that substitutes for keyboards. This intensity complements the music whether he be storyteller or furious warrior. And the music likewise complements him. Eric doesn’t need to bark the orders, “FIRE!” - the riffs answer his motives with a barrage of their own.

War Dance!

While this could be the most exhilarating progressive metal music in years, the music could draw from a deeper meaning as well. Are there comparisons to events in your everyday life? Who are these people among the Towers? Who are the oppressed? It seems like a lot of anger and passion pierces through the music. Whatever the answer The Towers of Avarice revives a stagnant style of music which more or less has raised the white flag to competition. “Progressive” and “metal” seems to have gone separate ways, deserting each with their own agendas. Perhaps Zero Hour will incite both sides: rallying them and rousing adrenaline with its fight song - this war dance of an album.

by Alzn, score 4.75 out of 5