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Tower of One: Eyes of the World cassette (Barely Fluent) If you live on the East Coast of the United States, there’s a good chance you’ve caught Tower of One live sometime in the past few years, as this young Connecticut band has been road-dogging like mad on a couple of low-key, self-released tapes. Their latest 7-song missive, Eyes of the World, is still on tape, but now has the endorsement of a label, Philadelphia’s Barely Fluent. Tower of One plays exactly the kind of fast, 80s-inspired hardcore we love at Sorry State, but with enough unique wrinkles to give them more personality than your average punks with studded wristbands and bandanas around their boots. I really like the vocals, which are belted out in a clear, slightly hoarse shout that reminds me of Julie from Sin 34 or Donna Damage from No Thanks. Even though the vocals are quite buried in the mix on Eyes of the World, they still catch your attention. The riffing sticks largely to the straightforward sound of USHC, but the songs are peppered with interesting leads that remind me of Zigyaku from Judgement’s balance of melody and metallic flourish. There are also some interesting, slightly unconventional songwriting choices. The most striking of these is the last track, “Eyes of the World,” a three-minute mid-tempo banger with the lead guitarist wilding out across the entire track. I love the songs, the performance pops, and Joe from D4MT Labs captures it all with his trademark warm-n-fuzzy sound. Throw in some eye-catching artwork from Bungee of Personal Damage (one of my favorite current punk illustrators), and you have a killer tape that’ll please both the purists and the discerning listeners who demand a little something extra from their fast hardcore punk.