New York City’s own return with its darkest, heaviest offering to date!
The long-awaited new studio album from New York City’s Tower finds the band digging into its pure metallic roots for a dark, powerful journey across ten songs!
Tower’s “Under the Chapel” single precedes the release of the band’s third studio album, Let There Be Dark. Its main riff popped up sometime in 2022 and immediately caught the ear of frontwoman Sarabeth Linden for its Eastern feel. The song—inspired by a Yiddish lullaby Linden’s grandmother used to sing to her—evokes a nightmarish landscape that perhaps reflects the current state of the world. Above all else, it signaled a directional shift for Tower. Whereas the band’s previous efforts had a decided rock and roll edge, Let There Be Dark stands on its own as a pure metal album.
Tower recorded Let There Be Dark from October to December 2024 with acclaimed producer and engineer Arthur Rizk (Blood Incantation, Cavalera Conspiracy, King Diamond). The partnership originated from when Tower opened for Rizk’s two bands, Eternal Champion and Sumerlands in 2022. The Rizk connection also netted Tower its new drummer, Keith Mikus. (Original bassist Philippe Arman rejoined the fold in 2022.) It was the level of trust between Tower and Rizk that enabled the band to cut their takes quickly, ultimately enabling Let There Be Dark to emerge as the heavy, well-rounded and dark offering that is augmented by the sterling guitar interplay between James Danzo and Zak Penley.
Let There Be Dark’s cover art was created by Jared Fleming and mimics an ancient bound book from back when sacred texts were precious objects that took scribes years to complete. The serpent is a recurring image for this album and features prominently. It’s a viper-style snake (the Saw-Scaled Carpet Viper, Echis Coloratus) that is consistent with the regions that played a part in the dawn of civilization, ancient history and theology.
Indeed Tower has assembled an album that reflects four years of road work that subsequently hardened and matured the band. There are a variety of tempos and moods here—a tell-tale sign of a band fully confident in itself heading into its tenth year of existence in 2025.
“It’s been a long road,” says Linden. “We have evolved so much as a band and as individuals. Careers changed, relationships changed, the focus has changed. Personally, I’ve learned so much about the business side of the music industry. It used to be all fun and games (and still is) but now that we are in a more serious position, the general trajectory of the band has adjusted and navigating decisions have a different meaning.”
“It’s been one hell of a ride,” adds Penley. “I feel like we have really hit our stride now and that’s very exciting from a creative standpoint. We take more risks now than we ever did before and I feel like this album shows that well.”