“Hired Gun” is all speed all the time, reminding me of Fire in the Brain era Oz, while “In Dreams” attempts something a bit different and “experimental,” stretching out an early 80s speed metal tune and giving it enough spit and polish to make it feel like something new and weird. It’s insanely catchy, silly, and intoxicating all at once. Linden uses her big-timey AOR voice to ply you with accessibility before the razor blades and handcuffs come out and things go all sideways. Standouts are many, but “Lay Down the Law” is especially entertaining as it threads the needle between Journey-esque 80s arena rock and early speed metal. Without a weak track anywhere, you get shunted from one barn burner to the next. “Running Out of Time” is fast, furious, and catchy as all hell, with a noticeable Overkill influence informing the ugly, quasi-thrash riffs.

“Prince of Darkness” is a rough-hewn doom rocker with a huge 70s vibe, and Linden sells it like she needs the money to pay back the local loan shark. And the burnouts and parking lot donuts continue from there. Her rough, raspy voice gives an already furious song another set of gears, and all are pulled in service of volcanic excess. This woman is like a banshee possessed by a demon in the thrall of a titan.

Linden’s leather-lunged wails hit the streets, a hooligan metal holiday must be declared. The riffs and the hyperactive energy make for a heady speed rush, and when Ms. This is the Way, and this is the real Tower of power.įrom the first moments of opener “Blood Moon” it’s apparent there’s no energy shortage at Fort Tower. Fronted by one Sarabeth Linden, who sounds like Janis Joplin and Ann Wilson fused together and extremely pissed off, Tower rock hard and ride free across 10 straight-forward, take no prisoners cuts, reminding of the likes of Riot City and early Razor. Their stock in trade is high-octane, gritty, ballsy metal influenced by 70s rock, 80s traditional metal, and early speed, and folks, these cats are out for blood and treasure. New York City’s Tower want their piece of that retro/proto-metal pie, and on sophomore platter Shock to the System, they’re ready to do whatever it takes to get it. The retro metal movement continues unabated, dragging modern metal back to the past (read as: the 70s).

A shock to the system