Style: progressive thrash metal, technical thrash metal (clean vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Voivod, Crimson Glory, Coroner
Country: United States-TX
Release date: 2 February 1985
Ask the prog metal obsessed and you’ll get a few different answers for the earliest band in our beloved genre. Queensrÿche debuted in 1984, but The Warning isn’t really progressive; King Crimson and Rush certainly had the progressive but only truly explored the metal beyond riffs here and there; The Spectre Within by Fates Warning is the obvious next choice, particularly as the band remains notably influential and active; Iron Maiden, Rainbow, and even Metallica had released proggy tracks by the mid 80s, though they clearly weren’t the progressive metal we know as its own thing; but depending on a not-well-documented release date discrepancy to beat out The Spectre Within by mere months, my champion is Watchtower, taking the mold of thrash metal light years beyond their peers to something that’s recognizably progressive metal. In February of 1985, these wizards changed the metal paradigm with their skill alone and birthed the genre that brings us all together (and tears us all apart, too).
Rampant time signature changes, driving bass, uniquely (at the time) technical riffs, and, of course, the blueprint-for-prog wailing mezzo-soprano; together with a thrash grit, we have the core of Energetic Disassembly, heaviness with an intricacy of playing lost since the heyday of progressive rock, even. This was a completely new dimension of metal: riffs like this were so far beyond any other band. Billy White and Doug Keyser on guitars and bass, respectively, pranced and shredded and bounced around their instruments like men possessed by the dancing plague of 1518, tirelessly racing through feverish, spidery riffs in several time signatures with seemingly endless range across the fretboard. Heck, even from a speed perspective hardly any other thrash up to then could match the tempo of tracks like “Social Fears,” the almighty, riff-tacular title track, and “Meltdown”; grind was in its demo-phase infancy, and speed metal was pretty much just a name compared to the efforts of Watchtower. The riffs and acrobatics on every track, but particularly ones like on sections like near the start of “Asylum” and the hyper version of the classic heavy metal gallop on “Argonne Forest,” are as memorable as they are influential. Even when comparing their music to artists a decade and a half later like Spiral Architect who helped take the helm for purely technical prog metal, Watchtower hold their own—these boys from Austin, Texas were visionaries.
One must mention Jason McMaster’s iconic voice with his dramatic wails. While his style has only improved in the following decades (see: Howling Sycamore), his frenzied singing takes Watchtower’s energy from simply next-level to outright fanatical: just listen to that scream at the end of “Cimmerian Shadows.” Finally, Rick Colaluca’s work behind the kit is admirable, also pretty much unique for the time—you sure as hell didn’t hear Lars jumping around the kit like this. It simply had to be the fastest and most precise drum performance ever at that point in time. The level of intricacy while maintaining thrash grooves… Colaluca is underrated for his importance to developing progressive metal. All together, Watchtower were a well-oiled machine even on their debut with zero contemporaries. The next couple years would see the blooming of prog metal, but these guys broke the barrier.
I can only imagine what it would be like to walk into an Austin record store in early 1985, pick Energetic Disassembly up on cassette, and hear “Violent Change” come out of the speakers, distinctly thrash metal but so new: faster, more technical, and with a level of intelligent density not seen yet in metal’s fifteen-year history. It would be life-changing and truly mind-blowing—I’d probably have had to pick up pieces of my brain from across the street. Nearly forty years of prog metal releases later, and Energetic Disassembly does more than stand up or remain notable just for its early release: this is still great progressive thrash (although the production is rough even for this point of time), and the prog community should be shamed for allowing this one to be lost in time: rectify it.
Recommended tracks: Tyrants in Distress, Energetic Disassembly, Social Fears, Meltdown
You may also like: Toxik, Blotted Science, Deathrow, Spiral Architect, Howling Sycamore, Dissimulator
Related links: Spotify | Official Website | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Zombo Records
Watchtower was:
– Jason McMaster (vocals)
– Billy White (guitars)
– Doug Keyser (bass)
– Rick Colaluca (drums)
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