Review by Ben for Watchtower - Energetic Disassembly (1985)

This is one of the very earliest releases to contain such a progressive form of thrash metal. The drumming is impressive, the guitar leads and riffs are technically and musically challenging, and the bassist is doing some really interesting things throughout. The band deserves some credit for being a fair way ahead of their time.

Unfortunately, there are two things that stop this album from being a classic in my opinion. Firstly, the vocalist is not very good. His high-pitched style, while used a lot back in 70s and 80s heavy metal, just doesn't work very well with this style of music. It's very off putting and distracting, and I feel something a bit more aggressive and less showy would have made this sound very different indeed. Secondly the production is crappy. It's not often that the bassist can be heard far above the rhythm and lead guitars, but this is the case here. Some of these riffs deserve front row attention but they are left floundering behind the admittedly awesome bass work.

All up I'd say this is an important album, but probably not something everyone should run out and purchase without checking it out further.