Orchestra Of Wolves

Gallows

In At The Deep End

2006-09-25

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Touted as the best kept secret of the underground hardcore and punk scene on this small island of Great Britain, four guys based in Watford, UK known as Gallows have assembled their wolfish wills and orchestrated howling dischordance in their debut album Orchestra Of Wolves. It forms 36 minutes of freshly squeezed terror with a distinct and highly commendable Britishness about it. And I must say, it’s not disappointing. 

With unconcealed contempt for what seems to be the many of their contemporaries in the international hardcore and punk scene, particularly the “wannabe male models”, Gallows seize that (possibly forgotten) screaming insolent youth inside and inject a raw and urgent dosage of urban modern day derangement. 

You’re left panting with your tongue out, bewildered and thoroughly exhausted by the end.

In the twelve tracks of their debut album, Gallows don’t actually give you much choice but command your attention. “Come Friendly Bombs” and “Abandon Ship” are powerful and even anthemic, balancing math rock riff indulgence, complex drum beatings and wailings of primate british youth, “we’re not the same world…we want the same world”. Influences from early Dischord, Scandinavian Hardcore and angular math rock are strong but by no means define their sound. Their viciousness is definitely their own.

It’s an unrelenting ride but Gallows keep it very tight. They effortlessly build up an unbridled intensity, letting melodious splatterings seep through but not in an all too often cringy emo-way. A bit of flowery cuffed hammond organ tinkling transports you momentarily to a gothic mansion of an evil vampire captor. A brief space to collect yourself whilst your head hangs a bit limp and rolls involuntarily to “Last Fight For The Living Dead” before taking off again for more draconian power riffs driven out in “Will Someone Shoot That Fucking Snake”. 

Gallows challenge you to a bloody fight. They taunt you by leaping around you like the fiery black and white wolves of their (rather impressive) album artwork.  They are actually irritatingly difficult to ignore and after a few listens they have successfully dug out the proverbial beast inside you. The title track of Orchestra Of Wolves is also the last track and is a weighty culmination of the aggressive aggregate; voices of the orchestra of wolves themselves scream and claw at you in chorus. You’re left panting with your tongue out, bewildered and thoroughly exhausted by the end.