Check my first published review. It’s of new album by Band Of Skulls.
Death Is Birth
Gallows - 2011
Produced by Joby Ford
Thirty Days of Nights Records
On July 8th 201l, Frank Carter, the original front man of Gallows announced he would be leaving the band due to that most cliché of reasons, creative differences. Just one month after a new front man was introduced, Wade McNeil, ex Alexisonfire guitarist/vocalist. There was a lot of hype over the change with a lot of mixed feelings and so Death Is Birth, the first realise with the new front man was hugely anticipated.
The EP starts with Mondo Chaos which kicks in straight away with an orchestra of screaming, sudden pauses and intense build ups, as well as other original elements that gallows fans will already be used to. I enjoyed this song a lot and I can tell it will become a huge song for their live shows. The second song, True Colours, is 36 seconds of hard hitting, violent sound. The energy is amazing but it does lack anything individual or “Gallows-esque” and it fades away into the hardcore genre. Hate! Hate! Hate! is a song that from it’s name, you would assume will be just as passionate as you would hope from a band such as Gallows but I didn’t get that feeling at all. Yes, it maybe vigorous and yes McNeil maybe screaming as loud as possible, but so do toddlers and I wouldn’t say they were passionate about anything. The fourth and final song is the title track, Death is Birth.. By this point, I feel the EP has lost any remaining creative influences of Frank and it’s hard to hear anything individual about this former stand-out band. They no longer sound like Gallows, instead they sound like your average Hardcore band whose main aim is to just be deafening.
Don’t get me wrong, I like the EP and its fits in very well with the hardcore scene, but Gallows shouldn’t be about fitting in. The EP didn’t keep me hooked and wanting more, if anything, it made me want to switch to their previous albums. I believe like many influential bands, the front man was the most important part of gallows and I’m sure anyone who was lucky enough to see a Gallows show with Frank would agree. There is a huge sense of something being missing and that something is Franks creativity. I predict that Gallows will now struggle to stand out as the influential band they originally strived to be without their original leader. Whilst I believe many bands try to step forward with their music and that’s what makes music so interesting, I believe Gallows are taking a step back. Punk may not be dead, but I believe Gallows are.
