"Hic Abundant Leones" by The Tower

Every now and again, bands have a back story that creates wonder. Guitar Wolf is a Japanese punk band who were raised by wolves.

Gwar (RIP ODERUS!) is (was?) a group of aliens bent on human destruction. Kiss...well who knows really what they were.

The Tower though, I think has all of those beat. I can say nothing better than what they have, so I'll just quote them for you:

"It was back in 1938 that the brothers Erik and August and their friend Viktor migrated south. They left the small village in the northern forests where they grew up for the big city and the university, to study the science of harvesting the earth. On the fields beside the burial mounds in old Uppsala they met Tommie, a Soviet refugee. He showed them his sole possession, a blues vinyl from 5300 BC, suspecting that it would fit their melancholy northern souls. The four sat down in a barn and played a blues jam which lasted until 1945, when the war ended and the post-apocalyptic nuclear winter began…"

There is honestly a whole lot more....but let's just get to the music.

Not very nowtro.

It has been a very long time since we've had a band like this come onto the scene.

This band grooves. The amount of absolute groove on this disc is absolutely incalculable. It's just stupendous.

Head bobbing and foot tapping will happen and you should just go with it.

The guitars, bass, and drums play together as a cohesive unit. It really makes a big difference when the parts play together. The foundation is four times as thick.

Guitarwise, there is a more than generous helping of wah wah, and that's just awesome. When used properly, the wah wah pedal is the most powerful tool in a guitarists arsenal which is why it's found in basically all genres of music. Here, it's used to perfection.

Looking backwards, there are shades of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Jefferson Airplane. Looking presentwards, there are shades of Kadavar. The songs are long, but they do not feel as such. Each track is a journey into the soul.

It would be impossible for any fan of any type of rock or metal to dislike this album in anyway.

Release: 4/15/14
Genre: Rock, Acid Rock
Run time:
Label: Prosthetic Records
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Track list:
1. Non Omnis Moriar
2. Adrenalawine
3. Exile
4. Lucy
5. Lions at the Gate
6. Pine Tree Mary
7. Moonstoned
8. Wounds
9. The Tower