The Tower

I loved Ancient Empire's last album Other World, so I was excited when The Tower dropped into my review queue. Not much has changed and this band still barrels ahead with punchy traditional heavy metal laced with speedy tempos and sweet twin-guitar melodies. I'm finding the songwriting to be less exciting this time around, so that album overall isn't grabbing me like the last one did. I can't find one particular song that "defines" the album, if you will. I'm not going about shutting it off when it comes on, but it isn't a step forward like I'd hoped, more of a "treading water" album. Regardless, Ancient Empire has a firm grip on their own style of traditional heavy metal and The Tower is a solid release but, if asked, I'd tell you to start with Other World.