photo by Charry Jones
The popular New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal YouTube channel is hosting an early stream of TWISTED TOWER DIRE’s Crest Of The Martyrs Demos – an alternate/demo version of the bands admired third album – on the eve of its release through Nameless Grave Records, making these versions available to the public for the first time.
Recorded in 2002 at Killabrew Studios, produced by Matt Crooks and TWISTED TOWER DIRE, and mastered by Dan Lowndes at Resonance Sound Studios, Crest Of The Martyrs Demos is completed with artwork personally done for this release by guitarist Scott Waldrop.
The CD version of Crest Of The Martyrs Demos features bonus tracks not included on the vinyl, including a second demo as well as a live track from Wacken 2003, and both the CD and vinyl editions bear liner notes from the band. The LP will be pressed in a total run of 500 copies, including 300 on Black and 100 on Silver. No Remorse Records (Greece) will have an exclusive 100 copies on Light Blue vinyl. The album is highly recommended for fans of Visigoth, Pharaoh, and Omen.
The band’s David Boyd writes, “TWISTED TOWER DIRE is thrilled and honored to finally share the Crest Of The Martyrs Demos with our fans and all true metalheads worldwide. This release only happened due to a massive amount of support from Nameless Grave Records, and we are eternally grateful! The more polished recordings of ‘Reflecting Pool,’ ‘False Orion,’ and ‘Axes And Honor’ (on the CD format) were circulated on a three-song CDR to draw some attention from labels. The remainder of the tracks were recorded by our good friend Matt Crooks during a one-day session at KillaBrew Studios in Northern Virginia. It was a quick session, and everything was recorded live in the same room… no overdubs or layering. Many of the tracks were altered slightly or more significantly during the official recording for Remedy Records, but these recordings represent the original ideas we brought to the table. They’re raw, honest, and genuine. They capture a moment in time for our band and a pre-album production process moving forward at high speed.
“These demos are like a time machine, taking us back twenty years in our personal lives, and representing a pivotal point in the growth of our band. We hope you enjoy stepping back in time with us!”
Stream TWISTED TOWER DIRE’s Crest Of The Martyrs Demos at the New Wave Of Traditional Heavy Metal YouTube channel RIGHT HERE.
Crest Of The Martyrs Demos sees release through Nameless Grave Records tomorrow, Friday, March 4th. Find ordering options at Bandcamp HERE and the label webshop HERE.
In the days of olde, after classic heavy metal was supplanted by extreme music and before the current reignition of interest that the genre has enjoyed, Northern Virginia’s TWISTED TOWER DIRE tirelessly defended true heavy metal in all forms as they sought to breathe new light into a then largely dead genre. By the time their now-legendary third album Crest Of The Martyrs was written they were on top of the world, having played Wacken for the first time a couple years earlier and having released two full-lengths on The Miskatonic Foundation, run by Rich Walker of Solstice fame, as well as a wide array of EPs, splits, compilation tracks, and more.
Crest Of The Martyrs was the next step: a bigger power metal label, sleeker production, and TWISTED TOWER DIRE’s biggest hooks and choruses yet. Underneath the gleaming power metal edge provided by the production provided by the label and studio still lurked the same triumphing true metal band, however, and for the first time Nameless Grave Records is proud to present Crest Of The Martyrs the way the band originally intended it: as a devastating, lean set of heavy metal bangers untouched by modern power metal production, and alternate studio decisions. Here, old fans of the band can rejoice to have this different set of recordings available for the first time, and new fans can marvel at the powerhouse of one of America’s finest bands playing at their best.
photo by David Klever
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