Towersound come from France. Three brothers who live in an old tower and make their music there. And record it there, too. Heavy metal with power metal touches is their trade.

For my liking, Towersound stick to heavy metal ethics more than to power metal ones. Usually, there's not much guitar playing melodies, but riffs and more riffs. Drummer sticks to quite basic beats, not delivering that double kick drum thing all the way through. Vocals are on rougher side of clean singing. Orchestral synth arrangements are well done, not sounding to synthesized. "Medieval" atmosphere in few occasions is created with pipes and such instruments (don't know if they're synthesized). Music varies from very simple to close to proggish territories. "Medieval" style intro and outro plus some stuff on a few songs, NWOBHM/Manowar style simplicity, a sugary clichéd ballad, a neo-classical instrumental and more epic songs fit nicely together. Lyrical themes are usual heavy metal stuff; knights and other medieval things, racing, nightmares to mention some.

When the band make it work, they are good. There's unique elements in every guys' performance. Instrumentalists' styles are individual and so is vocalist's. But, the vocalist's range isn't wide at all. His singing sounds samey on every song (execpt on calmer ones), and therefore at times the music isn't catchy at all. I must also mention his huge French accent, which is kind of hilarious, but I don't like it too much. Drumming isn't perfect, it's a bit sloppy here and there. I think it might be that way, if the drummer was the first one to record his stuff. Some of the songs, such as introspective 'Towersound' and neo-classical instrumental 'Enchanted Alloy' are simply too long. The album itself is also too long to sit through on one listen and the most of the material was featured on the band's two demos.

By recording the album themselves, this has positive and negative sides. Sound is basic, there is no studio trickery and I'm that's okay. However, the balancing of instruments' volumes is no good, as the drums are louder than anything else and bass is buried somewhere under. Booklet was created by the guitarist. It too is partly okay and partly not okay.

That is how the Towersound debut album is; partly okay, partly not okay. Points for unique touches, all the hard work they did and rawness plus energy of the music. Some clichés plague this album, as does some forgettable material. There are touches I don't like too much, but still make the band sound unique. I believe the band have a lot to offer in future, in fact they have been together as Towersound only since 2001. If 1980s heavy metal is your stuff, give Towersound a try.

Rating: 5 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
06/08/2005 23:30