Watchtower "Energetic Disassembly" [Original Mix]

When Watchtower unleashed their debut album »Energetic Disassembly« unto an unsuspecting public in 1985, the world would never be the same again. It surely was one of the most innovative and also one of the musically most extreme works in the entire metal universe up until this point in time. People did not know what to make of it, calling it “techno thrash” or even “jazz metal”. Watchtower were originally formed in Austin, Texas, in May 1982. That’s when legendary singer Jason McMaster joined Doug Keyser on bass, Rick Colaluca on drums and Billy White on guitar. In an early interview Doug Keyser, the mastermind behind Watchtower, had said that, at the very beginning, the band which was to turn to the metal world upside down was being influenced by the burgeoning NWOBHM over in the UK. The singer confirms: “Most definitely. The cover songs on the setlist they had hanging on the wall in Billy White’s bedroom/rehearsal space had Dio’s Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, UFO, Saxon and others prior to my joining. It was not until I joined that we added Raven, Angel Witch and eventually Accept. We covered about twelve Rush songs, and I must say we did a ton of Maiden from the DI’Anno era, and then some scattered tunes from »The Number Of The Beast« and »Piece of Mind«, and some Queensryche.” As time went on and Watchtower developed their own style, the band recorded a few demos and shipped them around to record companies but nobody was interested. As a result, they pressed »Energetic Disassembly« on their own Zombo Records (3,500 vinyl albums and 1,000 cassettes). “These numbers and actions are all true,” confirms singer Jason McMaster. “I do remember sending out cassette demos to fanzines and wrote letters almost daily to people who were tape trading. I received letters from Gen Hoglan, Mike Portnoy, Jason Newsted and even Alan Tecchio, and also rumblings that we were becoming a popularly traded band in the underground. I later recall speaking with William Howell, who was working for Metal Blade Records as early as 1986 to see about doing something. The reactions were fantastic, but we were so different, they felt they would not really know where to market it at the time. Were we a bit extreme? Sure. I believe.” Jason McMaster left Watchtower in 1988 to join Dangerous Toys. He was replaced by Alan Tecchio, formerly of Hades, who was the singer on the band’s second studio album »Control And Resistance« (1989), recorded for Noise Records in West-Berlin. This high-quality re-issue of »Energetic Disassembly« features the original mix of the 8-track album. MATTHIAS MADER