Invisible Oranges is hosting the public debut of “Fight To Be Free,” the original recording of the beloved anthem found on TWISTED TOWER DIRE’s Crest Of The Martyrs Demos – an alternate/demo version of the bands admired third album – as Nameless Grave Records prepares to make the recordings available for the first time.
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.
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.
With the public unveiling of the original recording of “Fight To Be Free,” the members of TWISTED TOWER DIRE offer, “This version of ‘Fight To Be Free’ delivers a very different feeling than the official 2003 release. We were really going for a Slayer type of feeling with this track, but it was neatly wrapped up in a power metal production and lost a lot of the grit. Both versions are good, but the demo has a little more meat on the bone. The raw production does it justice! Fight!”
Invisible Oranges writes with the recording’s debut, “The most notable differences between the ‘demo’ version of ‘Fight To Be Free’ and the studio recording are the lack of vocal overdubs and the significant reduction in reverb and gloss—and while the former doesn’t seem like a big deal on paper, the momentum and pacing of the track feels significantly different without them… On this demo recording, ‘Fight To Be Free’ comes with significantly more grit and grime, and that appropriately gives its message a far more combative bent.”
Hear TWISTED TOWER DIRE’s instinctive initial recording of “Fight To Be Free” through Invisible Oranges now at THIS LOCATION.
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.
Crest Of The Martyrs Demos will be released through Nameless Grave Records on March 4th. Find preorders at Bandcamp where “Some Other Time, Some Other Place” is streaming HERE and the label webshop HERE.
Additional portions of Crest Of The Martyrs Demos will be leaked over the weeks ahead preceding its release.
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