Listen close and you can hear the world's collective neck snapping as it bangs its head to this power trio. Riff-heavy rock from Pennsylvania, sent directly from us to your skull.
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I was ten years old on a camping trip around the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. It was drizzling and cold. There was a group of fourteen-year-olds camped nearby. They were listening to music that drew me through the bare trees towards the smoky campsite. The closer I got the scarier the music sounded, and the more I had to know about it. I walked up to the lank-haired burnouts who were sitting around a wooden picnic table with a big silver boom box blasting this hypnotic and terrifying music. I asked them "what is this music", and one of the dudes looked me dead in the eye and said: "Judas Priest." I couldn't understand if "judas priest" was the style of music or the name of the band, it was so perfectly unholy and righteous...
The Indian Tower album by Pearls and Brass makes me feel like a child in awe of the dark majesty of rock. It's complex and immediate, tough, defiant and masterful, deep and dark. And the acoustic guitar songs ("I Learn the Hard Way" and "Away The Mirrors") are so sick and beautiful; anyone who is fucking with the idea of owning a Martin 6-string do well to check out those numbers to see what those machines are capable of. This album is a must-have for fans of heavy music, and a humbling monument of rock guitar. Anyone who likes the vibe of bands like Witchcraft, Earthless, Om, and Pentagram will lose their minds in the shadow of The Indian Tower. Too bad Pearls and Brass ain't around anymore to blow kid's minds live!
- Matt Sweeney (Fully Qualified Lifer)
