There is a burning intensity at the heart of Towers‘ II that seems to run a current through all four of the album’s tracks. The Portland, Oregon, duo issue II through countrymen imprint Eolian Empire today in a limited-to-300 vinyl pressing (with download, naturally), and from their lineup, to the album’s title, to its two sides, each with a longer piece tied to a shorter one, “two” certainly seems to be the theme with which Towers — bassist/vocalist Rick Duncan and drummer Darryl Swan — are working. I wish I could say it applied to the sound of II itself, but the truth is somewhat less convenient and more satisfying, since the aesthetic breadth the band covers isn’t so easily cut into one piece or another.

Foreboding atmospheres loom throughout “Hell” (11:52), “The Door at the End of the Hall” (6:22), “The Chosen” (5:10) and “In the Room of Misfortune” (13:57), and the more extended pieces only seem to enhance that dread with a violent bass and drum noise that emerges like a sudden temper set off. Duncan‘s voice can either drone over his own bass or shout deep-mixed echoes that would be punkish were it not for the theatricality surrounding. Swan meets the churning progression of “In the Room of Misfortune” with a devil’s brew of tom runs and cymbal crashes, the whole thing feeling un-linear, unhinged, swirling and malevolent as they bring II to its terror-grooving head. It’s been a journey already at that point, the immersive gates of “Hell” opening to consume with hypnotic low end early on only to swallow the listener whole into a void of ambient waveform droning before giving way to dirge-doom and the build of “The Door at the End of the Hall,” around which ghostly forms take shape vocally even as the song seems to cast off structure in favor of raw, aggressive pulse, pushing and tugging at the consciousness.

Towers is not easy listening, and with the apparent narrative arc of these tracks and the flow between each side, that’s even truer of II than it was of their 2012 self-titled (discussed here) or preceding 2011 demos (review here), because what arises through the chants and slow march of “The Chosen” is a realized vision. Put it to whatever apocalyptic scenario you want and it’ll likely fit, whether it’s the dreaded grey of aftermath or the wretchedness of humanity bringing about its own destruction. II‘s oppressiveness takes different forms, but what’s tying the album together most of all is a portrayal of otherworldly toxicity made real and concrete through righteously vile and unwelcoming noise.

Stream II now on the player that follows and check out more on the release below, courtesy of the PR wire. Enjoy:

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The second LP from Portland’s apocalyptic bass-and-drums duo TOWERS, aptly titled II, will be released next month as part of Eolian Empire’s continuing mission to foist the great unwashed Portland heavy underground on a now suspecting public.

TOWERS formed in 2010 after the demise of psych-garage act The Troglodytes, and by melding elements of doom, no wave, new wave, industrial, noise rock, and soundscapes into rough-hewn monolithic monstrosities simultaneously disturbing and tantalizing, thetwosome has dragged and scraped chunks and shards from all the darkest sonic territories to assemble a heavy monster in its own image. Both primitive and futurist, TOWERS transcends musical movements, molding Promethean monoliths out of doom, sludge, no wave, new wave, industrial, and psychedelia.

Recorded in full analog, at the same studio as the Shins and Decemberists, no less, TOWERS’ second LP IIis a Cremaster cycle of droney dirges, rapid-fire blasts, Lynchian soundscapes, and deviant hooks set off by barked orders, snarled decrees and haunting laments. The album starts off with a furnace growl, an ancient machine coming to life as each crooked limb cracks and stirs before being suddenly thrown into gear with a grinding off-kilter bass loop. Over thirty-six minutes II purposefully shifts through a procession of primal mutant grooves, oscillating hooks, sludgy crawls, cavernous experimental explorations, and haunting, swinging marches marked by the barked Teutonic invocations—Hell is coming! —and ghostly incantations of the wounded and beaten. IIis a huge, enveloping beast of a record that captures the unique crushing intensity of their live sets.

Outsider Portland label, Eolian Empire, is loading this devastating ammo into the cannons for their planned February 11th offensive for II, ready to bust out the goods on quality 180-gram wax and digital.

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Eolian Empire