Tower Of Snakes: Revisiting Eighteen Visions’ metalcore innovations on ‘Obsession’

Though the band never quite achieved the mainstream success of their peers (Atreyu, Avenged Sevenfold), the band was extremely influential in multiple depths of the metal/hardcore pool. Motionless In White? Their band name wouldn’t exist. Asking Alexandria, Escape The Fate, and basically any band that combined singing with the ferocious screaming you’d expect from metalcore? Again, thank Eighteen Visions (and a few others) for that. There’s a litany of innovations that, while they seem trite today, Eighteen Visions pioneered when much of the current crop of metalcore/post-hardcore bands were kids, or even in diapers. And on 2004 breakout album Obsession, the band remained one step ahead of their peers, releasing their most melodic and accessible album yet – but also containing one of the most memorable breakdowns to ever come from metalcore.

Before we discuss the legendary breakdown that came from album highlight “Tower Of Snakes”, special attention needs to be paid to the fact that, on Obsession, the band nearly completed its shift toward a more mainstream-oriented alternative metal/post-hardcore sound. Even on the heavier tracks (“Bleed By Yourself” and “A Long Way Home” especially), Eighteen Visions injected a ton of melody to create an infectious sound that really should have stormed the mainstream. And it almost did – Obsession landed the band on some of the biggest tours of their career. It should also be noted that, while many of the band’s early fans had abandoned them by this point, they were miles ahead of the game. If you want to know where even recent bands like Of Mice And Men and The Word Alive get much of their influence from, it’s this album.

Besides the alt-rock anthems that defined this album (how was “I Let Go” not a monster hit?), “Tower Of Snakes” contains one of the most startling effective breakdowns ever put to tape. All you have to do is listen to it below – it’s iconic. I’m no music major, but Wikipedia tells me that it’s something like this.

Mid-song palm-muted open B breakdown punctuated by minor 2nd horror chords, a technique commonly used in modern hardcore, which stood out from the rest of the otherwise Post-grunge/Emo vibe of the record.

Two years after Obsession, the band’s transition to straight up hard rock was essentially complete on Eighteen Visions. And though the band broke up shortly after the album’s release, their impact on multiple scenes (even influencing early deathcore bands like Suicide Silence!!!), and especially their impact on how almost all modern metalcore and post-hardcore bands look, will never be forgotten.

RIP, Mick Deth.