Demo

Local bands are popping up all over the place for me these days. Another band struggling to crawl out of Aurora, Illinois is Clocktower, a techy thrash/death outfit that plays some really solid metal music for the laboring underground elite.

Off the bat I will admit to being under-impressed with the vocals in the scream-then-growl design that is all too formulaic these days; that aside, it’s not nearly as boring or silly here as many other ‘half-assed’ bands make it seem. Structurally, Clocktower manages to delve into the past remains of some old decayed carcasses and find some Coroner-like styling within these three tracks. “Undeserving of Life” is straight out of the Coroner book of technical metal with some really cool hooks and a slithering delivery that is not too polished, yet carefully buffed to sound just right. These young men know exactly what to do with the past fathers’ legacies and it really shows here. The drum sound on the demo is just a little thin, but it’s nothing distracting or off-putting and the drummer does a damn fine job keeping time, a seemingly lost art form in today’s demo efforts. I love the sharp precision rounded out on the corners of this demo; this is technical thrash metal 101 for you beginners out there; this is Sadus-meets-Coroner-meets-Hellwitch and I really dig it, especially the bass work. The cover of the Swiss legends’ “Nosferatu” is a spot-on homage that makes me damn proud the mantle is passed to a younger generation fit to carry it, and believe me, not many are fit to carry it.

As I said, vocally I’m on the fence with the shifting tones as it gets too distracting for me at times, but it’s a minor imperfection at best. Clocktower might be one of the bands from our precious Midwest to watch for in the coming months.

(Originally written for www.metalpsalter.com)