I can see the metallers cowering...their headbanging, fist-pumping antics excluded from the realm of Watchtower, who, with their extremely complex array of intricate metal, would've only attracted a scant few. There are grooves on offer, even a Judas Priest type of searing metal, but deep within the trenches of their sound you can pick out those awkward soundcapes and ethereal, entangled webs of craftsmanship. 'Meltdown' alienates itself with its wild trajectory's, a kind of hyper Voivod as it creates around it another world, a dimension of fluent yet alarmingly brilliant and discordant strangeness. Watchtower have never been part of anything, inhabiting some concrete, spacious, and minimal vacuum that many of us have to wrench from the back of our matter. Of all the metal bands to exist, not many continue to defy the laws of science with their sound, and this record, from way back still remains an unfathomable experiment. The vocals of Jason McMaster are screeches, high-pitched echoes through some technical tundra backed by the occasional chug yet frequent trickle of guitars courtesy of Billy White. I've seen this kind of musicianship described as "bionic rhythm" and that's reasonably accurate. Bleak in its icy technique, yet genius in a way still difficult to grasp. To call Watchtower thrash would be an insult, this is simply vibrant yet isolating music long before the likes of Dream Theatre tried similar advances.
Many will find such metal as irrelevant to a mundane life, those chosen few who are able to lend an ear, will find themselves taken to another place.
8.5/10
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