Conor Fynes 'The Size Of Matter' - Watchtower (Single)

Released as a teaser in anticipation of a new album that may, or may not come, Watchtower's 'The Size Of Matter' is a new song from a band who has laid dormant for over twenty years. In that time, Ron Jarzombek has gone on to other great things with his music, and if the direction on this track indicates, he seems to have taken creative control over the band. For the first minute or so of play length, 'The Size Of Matter' rolls and jerks onward like a typical Jarzombek tech fest, not unlike what he currently does with the Blotted Science project. When Alan Tecchio's vocals come in however, the listener is reminded that Watchtower is back. The song takes a thrashy turn from there, bringing back to light their proggy leanings. The lyrics explore a range of mathematical and scientific concepts,and it does a good job of creating a spacey vibe for the song. Watchtower don't sound like they used to anymore though; Tecchio's vocals have aged, and while still powerful, don't sound capable of hitting those brilliant highs. 'The Size Of Matter' is less thrashy, and more tech-oriented than the Watchtower of old, and if these guys decide to go somewhere with the plans of a third album, it's sure to be a blast.

Time Signature The size of the metal...

Genre: progressive thrash metal

Watchtower - the godfathers of progressive metal and technical thrash metal - are back! "The Size of the Matter" is an almost five minutes long track, but, with all the twists and turns going on, it seems much longer.

the complexity is there, but, compared to "Energetic Disassembly" and "Control and Resistance", this track seems much more compact; this may be due to a much tighter production in which there is more substance to the guitars, which always struck me as sounding a bit too thin (almost athmospheric) on the two aforementioned albums. There is also a certain groove to this track and some influences from power metal and, perhaps, even a The Swans type of post punk.

The singer, Allan Tecchio, who's now been fired (which means a delay in the release of "Mathematics"), does a great job on this album; he does not venture that much into the high register, but there is a certain roughness to his voice that suits the music very well.