Gallows
Orchestra of Wolves

THE REVIEW

June 14, Stadio Braglia in Modena: the completely unknown Gallows appear in Italy as supporters of Rage Against The Machine.

Led by a crazed, skeletal redhead completely covered in tattoos (the singer Frank Carter, a tattoo artist by profession), they make quite a scene on stage: quite a scene, considering that to get noticed they started a beer-can battle with the audience...

But that's nothing; during a live show in their homeland, England, the tattooed leader sustained such severe whiplash that doctors thought he'd been hit by a car. In short, the Gallows are certainly not quiet lads; on the contrary, they have earned a reputation for their "lively" performances.

The so-called "Punks from Watford" have only one album to their name, "Orchestra Of Wolves," indeed.

Self-produced, this album was released in 2007 through In At The Deep Records, then distributed in the US by Epitaph and in Europe by Warner Bros., well received everywhere by critics and audiences.

We are facing an album, in my opinion, quite unique, starting with the cover, almost an homage to the horror atmospheres of zombie B-movies: the material offered is not simple punk hardcore, but something that explores the most extreme paths the genre can offer, sometimes so furious it's unsuitable to be contained in a record.

Carter's voice is, indeed, always raucous and shrill, purely punk, but suitable to travel along with strident, hypertense, claustrophobic, violent, and brazen melodies: everything seems to come from the angriest live show in the world, almost a protest against the "containment" within a CD.

And so "Orchestra Of Wolves" flies by in a breath, as it is composed of twelve very fast tracks, no more than three minutes each (36 minutes in total album length), full of energetic guitar riffs, sudden tempo changes, multi-voiced choirs, and never static rhythms, in continuous evolution.

Notable among all are the apocalyptic "Come Friendly Bombs" and "Abandon Ship", the very angry "Six Years", the more melodic "Rolling With Punches", and the title track "Orchestra Of Wolves", also interesting for its lyrics (a rapist speaks about one of his carnal assaults).

Let us be clear, this album is certainly not excellent, but it is a real time bomb, incredibly interesting, to listen to and listen to again.

Bold.

[We're not the same ones you and me
If we were the same ones
I'll draw this knife across my throat and bleed it dry

- Come With Bombs -]

(It's my first review, please be kind!)