Does anyone remember this band?

[Michael TEOF]

Ivory Tower. This takes me back to the days when I was getting past Dream Theater/Shadow Gallery/Fates Warning/Enchant/Symphony X and searching for any prog metal I could find. A lot of people wound up not liking this band (mainly due to cheesy lyrics and questionable vocal pitch)... but I think if the guy could keep his voice in tune and they could write non-cheesy lyrics, they'd be a tour de force in Prog Metal.

Apparently there's a new song for download and album coming out soon.

http://www.ivorytower.de/download/PoM.mp3

Might be a good band for Prog Power. They sound like German Prog Metal, in the vein of Dreamscape.

The Michael

 

[J-Man]

Just for the reasons you mentioned i didn't care for them. If you took just the music and chopped out the vocals they were awesome.

 

[Entrerie]

Yeah I remember Ivory Tower, I keep confusing them with DragonLand for some reason. Must be the Ivory Plains thing.

 

[Michael TEOF]

Listen to the sound clip and tell me their new sound isn't more epic and rockin'. I'd have to hear more of the singer to see if his voice can stay in tune this time But so far so good. It was funny because it stayed in tune better on their first album... but the music was better on the second album.

The band always had potential to do what Circus Maximus did years before Circus Maximus. Too bad Circus Maximus beat them to the punch.

The Michael

 

[BlackenedDawn]

Me likey bouncy, Me likey bouncy!!! ... I mean... I like me some Ivory Tower

 

[Braxil]

These guys are pretty good.

 

[PriestMetalGods]

Classic story of a band that got lost in the late 90's/early 2000's black hole of prog and power metal. A lot of bands were exploding during this time period. I just feel so many people took a look at the biggest names and either didn't bother with others or just couldn't get to every band during this time. I think these guys had amazing potential. If they would have stuck at it and found a bigger label, I think they would have made a truly groundbreaking album. Beyond the Stars I feel was their best album, and one I still need to find on CD. I haven't heard anything from this camp, but I do hope one day they record another album.

Edit: Ok wow, I should have read the first post more clearly..this is great, definitely made my day..glad to see this band is going to forge ahead. The new material sounds pretty outstanding. Can't wait to hear the new album.

 

[Ascension]

They did record another cd titled "IT" which was released this year. This release sees them aiming more for at a power metal angle. Being from Germany they were probably influenced by the plethora of power metal there. "Beyond the Stars" is a great prog cd...stellar musicianship and good vocals. The production is not quite as polished as most but that in itself gives it an edge. Their 1st release was not nearly as good. I don't think they were ready to go in the studio at that point. The vocalist in particular wasn't ready...even sounding off key at points. It seems like this band just got lost in the wave of prog metal that came after Dream Theater made the genre popular. Would be cool to see this band at PP, but l'm not sure they gig very much. Could probably be convinced though

 

[Metaldrumz]

Theres way too many bands called Ivory Tower....

You have the Prog Metal one on Limb Music, and 2 Hard Rock bands as well (One signed with Metal Mayhem Records).

I'll give you a glimpse of my knowledge in Hard Rock haha....

You wanna talk Ivory Tower? Well try this on for size.....remember Marc Ferrari of KEEL, COLD SWEAT, and MEDICINE WHEEL fame? Well take a lookie here at this tape......IVORY TOWER featuring Marc Ferrari!

These songs were later reworked, and showed up on the Medicine Wheel "First Things First" CD. I am a HUGE fan of COLD SWEAT's only CD "Breakout", and follow Marc's post Keel career. The Cold Sweat instrumental demos are fucking KILLER!!!

 

[J-Dubya 777]

Cold Sweat ROCKED!

J-Dubya

 

[Joe-×]

Ivory Tower

I love the Ivory Tower from Jersey who did the aweseome "Ready To Roll" in the late 80's. What I remember of the Ivory Tower from Germany can be summed up with this live bootleg of them at a fest:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MXo18iYuDcY

Joe

 

[Michael TEOF]

I love the Ivory Tower from Jersey who did the aweseome "Ready To Roll" in the late 80's. What I remember of the Ivory Tower from Germany can be summed up with this live bootleg of them at a fest:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MXo18iYuDcY

Joe

Uhhh yeah, that video had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. But thanks for that.

I'm surprised so few people have heard of the real Ivory Tower. They should definately be peeped by all these boardites lacking in prog metal historical education. Perhaps The Michael should teach a class?

The Michael

 

[Metaldrumz]

I'm surprised so few people have heard of the real Ivory Tower.

The Michael

Im not, but he at least I have. Its definately the Ivory Tower who had distribution through Limb Music/Ryko.

The singer really turned me off of the band, which is why I never got into them.

 

[Joe-×]

Uhhh yeah, that video had absolutely nothing to do with the topic. But thanks for that.

The singers were very similar. Both incredibly awful.

I'm surprised so few people have heard of the real Ivory Tower. They should definately be peeped by all these boardites lacking in prog metal historical education. Perhaps The Michael should teach a class?

I think not. You're too young. It's gotta be a gray hair who bought Heaven and Hell on the day it was released in vinyl format as well as someone who owned albums by Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Watchtower before the internet was invented and ordered prog metal by phone from Dream Disc and Laser's Edge when all they had were paper catalogs. I suggest LarryD or Pellaz or Dr. Mosh. I'd offer to teach, but I'm a fuckhead - no one would sign up.

 

[Metaldrumz]

The singers were very similar. Both incredibly awful.

I think not. You're too young. It's gotta be a gray hair who bought Heaven and Hell on the day it was released in vinyl format as well as someone who owned albums by Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Watchtower before the internet was invented and ordered prog metal by phone from Dream Disc and Laser's Edge when all they had were paper catalogs. I suggest LarryD or Pellaz or Dr. Mosh. I'd offer to teach, but I'm a fuckhead - no one would sign up.

Shit I loved Dream Disc!! Used to get alot of my CD's there. Too bad the catalog disappeared, and the website stalled.

 

[Michael TEOF]

The singers were very similar. Both incredibly awful.

I think not. You're too young. It's gotta be a gray hair who bought Heaven and Hell on the day it was released in vinyl format as well as someone who owned albums by Dream Theater, Fates Warning, and Watchtower before the internet was invented and ordered prog metal by phone from Dream Disc and Laser's Edge when all they had were paper catalogs. I suggest LarryD or Pellaz or Dr. Mosh. I'd offer to teach, but I'm a fuckhead - no one would sign up.

Yeah. Do me a favor and stop replying to my posts.

Thanks,
The Michael

 

[Pellaz]

Shit I loved Dream Disc!! Used to get alot of my CD's there. Too bad the catalog disappeared, and the website stalled.

"Some men are Catholic, others Methodist.... I was a Laser's Edge man."

(With apologies to A Christmas Story)



Heck, I remember ordering rare prog CDs back in the early 90s via email, from some guy with an Indian name.....can't even remember if he had a company of his own. Never got ripped off...'course back then the Net was a happier, safer place. We had to telnet BOTH ways, uphill, in the snow....BAREFOOT--


Oh, there's the bell, time for recess.

 

[Metaldrumz]

"Some men are Catholic, others Methodist.... I was a Laser's Edge man."

Ha! I probably would have used them myself had I known about em.

Dream Disc was my best choice I knew about for catalog and online, until I also discovered Sentinel Steel, and Alta Mira (RIP!!)

Also found Kiss My Disc way back which was amazing for someone like me whos really into the obscure 80s Indie/obscure Hard Rock, and Hair Metal as much as the Power/Prog/Traditional Metal.

 

[adaher]

I really dug the second album, Beyond the Stars. I would love to see them play ProgPower, especially if the new album is good.

 

[Joe-×]

"Some men are Catholic, others Methodist.... I was a Laser's Edge man."

(With apologies to A Christmas Story)



Heck, I remember ordering rare prog CDs back in the early 90s via email, from some guy with an Indian name.....can't even remember if he had a company of his own.

Ah yes. Ranjit Padmanabhan. ranjit@netcom.com Great guy. His company was officially called "Progtron." He always had a great inventory, and one could special order *anything*. The cool part is that he also stocked extremely gay AOR as well. I remember ordering the extremely rare and difficult to find second disc from The Storm (Journey clone) from hiim when no one had it or even heard of it. It was carried by Music for Nations for a couple of months before they landed a bigger deal. He was also able to snag me one of the last few remaining Shadow Gallery self-titled discs from Roadrunner Japan when I was thinking that Magna Carta would never re-issue it. He was also good for distributing all the awesome DT boots (Lost in the Sky, etc) that weren't sold by Tim Lodge or Mike Bahr. Wonder what ever happened with that guy.

Ah, those were the days.