Twisted Tower Dire was formed in the Washington D.C. suburbs in the early 90’s, the band makes epic traditional hooky heavy metal. In 1999 the debut album The Curse of Twisted Tower was released and five albums followed since then. Since the change of singer in 2007, the line-up has been stable. I must confess I am late to the TTD party. Wars in the Unknown is the first time I check this guys out. They are coming from a seven year gap and riding the new wave of traditional heavy metal bands in the US (Visigoth, Night Demon, etc). That's what we are going for here, Iron Maiden meets Manowar direction.
The first impression was very good. It's a direct album, no frills (lucky no ballads either) and straight to business from track one of ten, running a total of digestible 42 minutes. A cool album cover, no surprisingly, that brings us the 80's style that is also present in the music. Also the lyric video for "True North" worked well as it's one of the best songs of the album. A galloping rhythm, an engaging verse, good chorus and strong bridge displaying a good vocal performance. The other single "Light The Swords On Fire" displays nice speed and some aggressiveness int he vocals supported by nice riffs. The tracks around it are also very good, the strong opener "The Thundering" and the fast paced "Tear You Apart" featuring a strong Kill em All era influenced riff. Another highlight for me is "And The Sharks Came Then" with a mid-tempo progression and one of the best guitar work on the album.
Unfortunately the first good impressions did not hold for the second half of album. The mid-section is disappointing. I have two major problems with Wars in the Unknown. First it lacks that memorable, fist pumping hooks that I expect from a power metal related albums. Second, the vocal approach seems very "contained" as if Twisted Tower Dire were afraid of going full blown and consequently put off some of the north american audience. There are exceptions and hence why I think they could have gone that way. A good example is the final track "These Ghosts Can Never Leave" where they take some risks and as a result is one of my favorites. On the other hand a song like "A Howl In The Wind" has so much potential but the vocal lines fall very flat and boring. At moments it gets to the point that irritates me like the last notes of the verses on "Riding The Fortress".
Despite my criticisms in those areas, it is a good album and shows that Twisted Tower Dire has potential to keep going forward and hopefully leap forward in the next release. It's fun to listen to and easy to digest. I'm sure fans and overall people who appreciate traditional/power metal will dig this. I don't see myself going back to it very often. But since it was a positive experience, next I'll be checking "Crest Of The Martyrs" and "The Isle Of Hydra" which seem to be the highlights in their discography.
DR: 6
Genre: Traditional / Power Metal
Released by No Remorse on March 15th, 2019
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