Twisted Tower Dire is formed in 1995 with the sole purpose to revive true heavy metal, so it comes as no surprise that this American quintet borrows heavily from bands like Iron Maiden, Candlemass, Judas Priest and Manowar. In fact, Twisted Tower Dire has a lot in common with Hammerfall; both bands recycle old heavy metal material. However, these Americans concentrate a lot more on shredding riffs while Hammerfall is definitely more melody oriented.

Crest Of The Martyrs is a very decent heavy metal album with a lot of strong songs and especially the riffs are of a high level. Sure, most of the songs are a bit too repetitive and could use more melodic variation but that’s on the other hand the charm of this album; it’s no-nonsense straightforward heavy metal with balls. Unfortunately, like I already hinted at, it’s all terribly predictable and cliché (song titles like “Fight To Be Free” and “Axes & Honor” speak for themselves); from the lyrics to the sing-along choruses, it has all been done before.

While the epic aforementioned “Axes & Honor” strongly reminds of Manowar, the following song “To Be A Champion” sounds dangerously much like Hammerfall.

The album has been produced by Piet Sielck (who doesn’t know this man by now?) and sounds very good in every way, but especially the guitar sound kicks ass. This time Piet Sielck (as well as Iron Savior compatriot Joachim Küstner by the way) has even done some additional background vocals. In conclusion: if you are into classic heavy metal I can certainly advice Crest Of The Martyrs to you. The album certainly won’t let you down. However, don’t expect anything groundbreaking, just decent heavy metal.