Control & Resistance

Watchtower (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Noise
• ASIN: B00009KU6B
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #342,445 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Vive l'Anarchie, March 31, 2004

By 

Church of The Flaming Sword - See all my reviews

This review is from: Control & Resistance (Audio CD)

There may never be another band like Austin's Watchtower. In the wasteland of hairband excess of the 1980s, Watchtower was an oasis of intelligence, talent, and imagination. Nowhere to be found were the idiotic lyrics about sex, cars, and getting drunk. The disingenious 3-chord riffs were MIA. In their place were thought-provoking social commentary and musicianship that was unheard of since the heyday of Yes. Here was a band who combined the heaviness and intensity of thrash metal with the musical sophistication of jazz fusion. Even though they wouldn't exactly dominate the charts, they would be a role model for other amazing bands like Dream Theater, Cynic, Death, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Spiral Architect.

Control and Resistance is Watchtower's second album, after the 1986 debut Energetic Disassembly. Their first vocalist Jason McMaster would leave to join the more commercially accessable Dangerous Toys, and Hades frontman Alan Tecchio would take McMaster's place. Guitarist Billy White would be replaced by ultrashredder Ron Jarzombeck. Jarzombeck's playing sounded like a mad-scientist trying to create his own idea of the perfect guitar player by kidnapping Yngwie Malmsteen, Dave Mustaine, Carl Stalling, and Allan Holdsworth- then trying to fuse them all into one person. Doug Keyser was better suited for funk or fusion - Who needed him when you had bass maestros like Nikki Sixx who just strummed along with the australopithecine guitar chord progressions? Just joking - Keyser laid down a funky groove that made things far more interesting. Rick Colaluca ,in my opinion, was the Neil Peart of the speed metal generation. When so thrash metal drummers were saying, "Look at me, I can play 250 beats per minute.", Colaluca was exploring polyrhythms and odd time signatures that Lars Ulrich will never understand if he lives to be 150. Finally Tecchio sang with the melodicism of a NWOBHM vocalist and the manic energy of a punk singer, with a healthy dose of paranoia.

Lyrically, the songs may seem a little dated because they dealt with 1980s social concerns. "Instruments of Random Murder" is about the aspirin poisonings of the 1980s. "Mayday in Kiev" is about the Chernobyl disaster of 1986, and the unsuccessful and cowardly attempts by the then existing Soviet government to cover the incident up. "The Fall of Reason" is an anti-war song, a theme that was popular during the Reagan years.

Even if it didn't exactly set the world afire, Control and Resistance came out at a time when rock music was (and still is) in desperate need of a brain transplant. It lacked the support of eMpTyV, radio, and the major labels. But what it did have was some pretty good word of mouth. People, the few who heard it, who liked the album REALLY liked it. The good word of mouth is still circulating. When millions look back at the likes of Poison, New Kids on the Block, Hanson, Warrant, and Oasis; they hang their heads in embarrassment and say to themselves, "Oh Dear Lord, I used to listen to that." Then you have the thousands who listen to Watchtower and hold their heads high. Even more proof not to follow the hive mind.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars so this is where it came from..., April 6, 2004

By 

the great wilson "observer" (america) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Control & Resistance (Audio CD)

a few years ago, i discovered this band called Spiral Architect. i immediately fell in love with them. the complex arrangements, the brilliant vocals, and above all the mind-blowing basslines stole my heart upon the very first listen. its what i always wanted to hear: a balanced mixture of fusion and progressive metal. i had never heard anyone like these guys, they were totally original...

...until i discovered watchtower a few months ago. for the record, Spiral Architect ripped off Watchtower for every good idea they had. i was shocked upon my first listen of Control & Resistance. it sounded EXACTLY like Sprial Architect! well, technically Spiral Architect sounded exactly like Watchtower, but whatever...

i just couldnt believe it. these guys were doing it 13-14 years before Spiral architect ever thought about it. ok, enough about this...

about the album. the album is spectacular. for guys like me, its an extremely satisfying listen. fusion chops, prog metal leanings, it really doesnt get much better.

watchtower is my all time favorite progressive metal band, and Control & Resistance is my favorite progressive metal album, bar none. absolutely classic.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shredders' heaven, October 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Control & Resistance (Audio CD)

Rather underappreciated for their talents, Watchtower were a trail-blazing progressive metal act who remain venerated in cult circles. This was their second album, and by all means one of the most complex, technically accomplished pieces of hard rock on the map. Their motto was apparently to cram as many notes into each measure as possible, and the instrumentalists use thrash and speed metal as a starting point for experiments in jazz-fusion bass lines, precision drumming and unbelievable harmony solos from guitarist Ron Jarzombek. I do have to admit that, for most listeners, it's doesn't seem overly emotional; the songs appear to mainly be excuses for instrumental acrobatics. In that sense it may be obvious why these guys never achieved the commercial success of some less-pretentious metal bands. But boy could Watchtower play. If you enjoy the more technical aspects of bands like Rush, Iron Maiden and (old) Metallica, this may be right up your alley.