Residing on a label formed by members of He Who Corrupts, you should have little doubt as to how noisy this 11 song, 10 minute “album” is. Strictly for those that become erect listening to the likes of Daughters, As the Sun Sets and The Number 12 Looks Like You, Illinois’ Tower of Rome is your typical spazzed out grindcore played by tight jeaned, short haired hardcore kids.Despite its woeful brevity, All is Lost … packs enough technical, stuttering, staccato sonic epilepsy to make its short length actually welcome. The fit throwing, ranting grind is typically high end, with a few dissonant grooves thrown in, but for the most part, this record plays like an album by The Red Chord played at 45rpm; annoyingly screechy but mercilessly abusive and unrelentingly chaotic. The 11 minutes is more of an experience than an album, as it staggers by with no refrains whatsoever. You actually may miss this album during an ultra long sneeze (you know, the kind of smokers sneeze that tries to throw a cough in, and ends up being about 8 consecutive, painfully productive sneezes) and due to the screeching vocals sounds a lot like said sneeze also, just backed by squealing guitars and blast beats.

Tower of Rome are not lacking in intensity, that’s for sure, coming at you with the unpredictability of a crack crazed kitten, but with the fury of a full blown PMS rant-even (again due to the screechy vocals) sounding liked a ultra pissed of female. If Tower of Rome were to lay off the Pibb Xtra for a minute and develop elements like the thunderous breakdown of “They Say She Died Because She Was Too Honest,” or the trembling harmonies of “This Is A Film About A Ghost,” they might be onto something, but as it stands the sheer velocity of their material is actually their weak point. I like my grind core as much as the next man, but much like the Daughters album Canada Songs my enjoyment of the material is surpassed by my disappointment in the length of the album. You can’t help feel slightly ripped off when it’s over, even if you did enjoy it. It’s like having a great blow job last only 23 seconds.

That being said, the ferocity of the material is undeniable though likely to piss off most “true” metal fans that gauge this as a sort of spazzoid, white belt wearing, bandwagon jumping “fashion core.” Truthfully though, musically, it’s no more silly than gore grind, just performed by metrosexuals, it’s just as noisy, offensive and at times pointless, but the sheer tenacity is comparable. If Pig Destroyer played this, you’d all love it.

I cant help be impressed by intensity of Tower of Rome’s music, I just wish there was more of it and it was a little more unique and developed.

[Visit the band's website]

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