Album Review

Gallows – Gallows

• 9th Sep 2012

In the summer of 2011, Frank Carter announced that he would no longer have a part in Gallow’s career, and went on to pursue a very different musical adventure in the form of Pure Love. Many of Gallows fans were left worrying – would they see an apt follow up to the immense Grey Britain? Who could take up the frontman mantle?

Enter Wade MacNeil. The Alexisonfire alumni has made his appearance known with his significant, snarling vocals which bring something very different to what we have heard the last singer bring to the table.

And with that, Gallows has entered a new chapter, and a result of this is this self-titled effort. Upon first listen, only one word popped into my head – this record is nuts. On second listen, it’s a beast. This is a great step in the right direction for Gallows, and all the fans going in with high expectations have no need to fear.

Gallows opens with the haunting chants of “Victim Culture”, which very quickly turns into a manic mess and very much a hardcore song. Stuart Gili-Ross’ bass is heavy in this track, as it is throughout the album (see “Last June” and “Cross of Lorraine”), and it being as loud as it is brings a different feel to the album. You can anticipate the live show, and what to expect from these songs.

There is a shift in gear during some songs though; it’s not all grit. The previously released “Outsider Art” is a clear example of this, with cleaner vocals to open before MacNeil roars like a man who has smoked a pipe for the greater part of a century. Without a doubt the easiest to listen to on the album, it is the closest to mainstream appeal. But does this while maintaining what Gallows have achieved so far.

MacNeil is sure to be the main argument that any might make towards the diversity of songs here. But, when you have this kind of intensity and atrocity on such a design, it’s tough to question the result.

One blistering track from the album is “Vapid Adolescent Blues”, one which is sure to leave even the most devout Gallows fan in hysterics. The closing third of the song leaps from the record and almost has a life of its own. Steph Carter and Laurent Barnard bring their guitars into overdrive before walloping the song home.

Another sure to be favourite is “Odessa”, which opens with MacNeil’s cleaner vocals before stomping into mania. This leads to “Nations / Never Enough” which has MacNeil bellow that he’s “So tired of this world / and aching for the next”, before he roars in almost incomprehensible lyrics. Intense isn’t the word. As with the title, this track has two parts and becomes a very different song almost 2 minutes in. The guitar riff changes and moves in a slightly upbeat manner, until we hear MacNeil’s back in local roaring territory.

Closing song “Cross of Lorraine” brings back Gili-Ross’ stomping bass on the forefront, on top of Lee Barrat’s drum. As the song draws to a close, everything slows down slightly, bringing an almost enigmatic touch to the song. All the while, MacNeil is roaring that he “was waiting for the death”, only to be cut off almost mid sentence. The end of the album comes a little too early.

But I think that’s the tell of a really good album – one that ends too early. I would happily have sat with another 11 songs, and gotten to know them as I know these 11. The diversity found throughout the album, some might say, would leave it without a ‘flow’. But this album has its design, somewhere among all the insanity.

Tracklist:
Victim Cultures
Everybody Loves You (When You’re Dead)
Last June
Outsider Art
Vapid Adolescent Blues
Austere
Deprvers
Odessa
Nations / Never Enough
Cult Of Mary
Cross Of Lorraine

Download: Last June, Odessa, Vapid Adolescent Blues, Cross Of Lorraine