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Ivory Tower is a band I've always meant to check out ever since getting back into metal in the early 2000s. I was on a real power metal kick before finding The Metal Crypt and branching out, and Ivory Tower was a band I was aware of but never plunked down the money for a CD (streaming was not as prevalent back then). Their fifth album, Stronger, is exactly what I expected it to be; huge, expansive sound, earnest performances and wonderful sound along with a heaping dose of pomposity and a tendency to go on too long.

Stronger roars out of the gate with "The Offer" (after about a minute and a half of introductory music), a song possessing a crisp riff and commanding chorus. Other songs that grab your attention include "In Me" and "Slave", both with a solid balance between the "power" and the "progressive" aspects of Ivory Tower's writing style. The album, however, is over 75 minutes long and it sounds like the band had to recycle a few things to get to the finish line. Some of the songs blend, especially toward the end. That doesn't put a dent in the performances in any way, so expect a lot of crashing and sweeping of sound throughout.

I can't imagine anyone into Dream Theater, Pagan's Mind, Threshold, etc. not getting something out of Stronger's layered yet straightforward prog/power approach, perhaps a lot.