Record Review: Gallows

Gallows – Orchestra of Wolves, (Epitaph Records.2007)



It was early afternoon at the Minneapolis stop of the Vans Warped Tour and I was with my daughter checking out the merch area of the festival, a semi-maze of concentric rectangles lined with open-sided tents crammed side-by-side. Some bands had a seriously fancy setups with logo-emblazoned tops and cash registers, but most were the same: white top, vinyl banner with band’s name, and makeshift display of hanging t-shirts and CDs/stickers/buttons secured by duct tape to the card table/barrier. About 37.6% of the booths were manned – most by bored hired hands staring blankly or slouched forward gossiping over corn dogs and lemon shake-ups. The Paramore booth actually had a fuck shucking for tips after each sale, I wanted to punch his fucking face. I digress. Nevertheless, it was a good time to go because the sun was beating down hard and Red Switch Kill Jump Suit (or whatever that act was making a lame-ass racket from one of the two “main stages”) was playing, so the crowd was thin.

Back to the merch booths … so we come up on one with nothing but that vinyl banner and handmade Sharpie scrawled signage: “Gallows – Recommended For Fans of Black Flag, Refused, The Bronx”. I guffawed and snarked, slapped my knee, rolled my eyes, “Yeah right”. My daughter pointed out another homemade sign: “Playing at 4:30 Hurley Stage”. I knew right there I had to check out this band. I mean, you have to have some guts to say that your band is the band for fans of Black Flag, Refused, and The Bronx … especially when you are playing Warped Tour.

I’ll save some time and skip to the end: after the Gallows set, we made it back to their merch table where I quipped, “When I saw this sign [pointing the “For the Fans Of…” sign], I figured it was typical rock band poser bullshit.” The band looked amused. I continued, “This is quite a boast and takes some guts, but you guys really backed it up. I’ll take a CD and a t-shirt.”

We had just witnessed a 30-minute/5-song attack of bludgeoned melodies, violent hooks, strings of snot, globs of spit, white-knuckled fists, punk rock fury, self-directed rage, overall disgust, band power, fan loyalty, and separate-the-wheat-from-the-chafe-divergence. Reading the press on the band, there are three recurring themes: an amazing live show (correct), a punk righteousness (correct), and being a fans’ band (correct). So how does all of this translate to record?

Rarely do the confines of the studio produce a record that matches live performance intensity, and nothing is different here. There is one thing consistent with the live set: the sheer unbelievable amount of f-bombs. It’s awesome. But there is more to Orchestra of Wolves than a wonderful cavalcade of that curse word. Gallows play each note; deliver each line with extreme everything. The record matches the band’s live swagger with this oddly catchy, kick-yer-toes-up dance-ability. Seriously, it’s a mixture of passion and fury and pop catchiness. The songs stick in your head, they demand to be played and replayed.

The most striking presence is lead vocalist Frank Carter, a stringy vegan possibly straight edge man of supreme honesty. In many ways, he is an Eddie Argos (Art Brut, duh) type of front man. Carter can scream like a pissed off hardcore punk – but when he lowers his voice, it is pure classic punk rock (yes, Johnny Rotten). In other ways, he is just Frank Carter – a scrawny hardcore punk singer. When Carter trades call-and-response-barbs with guitarists Laurent Barnard and Steph Carter, it’s exhilarating (best example, “Rolling With The Punches”). It would certainly be asshole-ish of me to not mention the rhythm section of Stu Gili-Ross (bass) and Lee Barratt (drums). Gili-Ross’ bass lines are the glue that holds these reckless songs together while guitars careen from lightning quick downstrokes to East Bay Ray licks. Barratt’s drumming is equally irresponsible, but it’s stunning how he can go from spazzed to steady.

Gallows are not completely about snap-to-grids changes, crashing-two-boots-down violence; take “Come Friendly Bombs” a track that actually grooves with snotty swagger. It isn’t until the last 30 seconds where it’s that pure relentless attack. Then there is the “pop” song, “Abandon Ships” with its one-two punch hooks (“MAYDAY MAYDAY” … “Man overBOARD”) and slight screamo vibe. While this may be the song that brings the emo and/or rock kids into the fold, it is by no means representative of what makes the band and their debut tremendous. I will say that the breakdown with one-oh-seven left in the track is the best part of the song.

Another tremendous best part of a song is when Carter bellows, “My name is Casanova!” to kick off the title track. Or the insane chorus on the jagged swamp blues groove of “In The Belly Of A Shark” – “SO here I lie! In the belly of a shark. So fucking cold, so fucking dark”. OR The double-kick drums, double-timed triplet riffs, and the ascending vocals on “Will somebody shoot that fucking SNAKE?!” Or the true-t0-the-original-and-most-reverent bonus track cover of Black Flag’s “Nervous Breakdown” (especially, the closing “I just wanna diiiieee. FUCK!”). And then there is the super secret bonus track blistering version of the classic, classic, classic “Staring At The Rude Boys” by The Ruts.

The eye-popping WTF titled “Just Because You Sleep Next To Me Doesn’t Mean Your Safe” is a track that merges influence and indulgence – the arrangement is complex and a workout, the vocals are three-part insanity, and the lyrics are bonkers. A song that seems to be hate-filled directed to an ex-lover, but just may be a warning to any on-the-fence fans. Speaking of lyrical themes – the unique thing about Gallows is the personal intensity when take the piss out of lesser bands, fair weather music listeners, and ex-lovers. Unlike their punk anti-heroes, subjects like love and relationships are the norm recalling the fucked up confessions of Spencer Moody (Murder City Devils).

Refused titled their freaking awesome incredible super dominating record, The Shape Of Punk To Come and then unceremoniously broke up. Gallows have taken this proclamation to heart on Orchestra of Wolves with a wicked concoction of post-hardcore infused with 80s hardcore punk, British pub punk, and mid-90s aggro-metal delivered with such a gut level ferocity that you feel it in your stomach. Naturally, not all is amazing, a limitation of bludgeoning hardcore is where the riff and noise so often comes first. Still, it is uncommon that a band making this kind of music can make a record this consistently listenable and powerful.

Score: 75.38
File Under: Post.Hardcore.Animal.Punk.Rock

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