| Orchestra of Wolves Gallows Any band that can cover Black Flag’s Nervous Breakdown and pull it off has my vote for whatever they are running for. Unfortunately Gallows aren’t running for anything, so there’s no need to vote. Who ever proclaimed punk was dead has been sleeping on the job. I assure you that Punk is alive and well and it’s new name is Gallows. The DYI UK punk band Gallows has given Punk Rock a 1000 volt electric shock treatment towards a rebirth with their Epitaph debut Orchestra of Wolves. Even if it’s not a rebirth it’s worth a bloody try, ittnit? With enough American hardcore and a dash of The Sex Pistols in the back ground, Wolves is loaded with tracks like Come Friendly Bombs a song about Tony Blair and George W. Bush according to front man Frank Carter, the fiery tattooed red headed Johnny Rotten reincarnate. No one can argue their political relevance with lines like “If this town had name it would be defeat/ 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.” Or take the direct cut in the song Abandon Ship “Mayday/Mayday/The captain has lost control again/ the fucking ship is breaking up/ we’re going down in flames.” It’s refreshing to find a band that calls themselves punk and actually have the bollocks to back it up. |
| The Anatomy of a Martyr No Bragging Rights The Anatomy of a Martyr is an album of a band that is clearly in their developing stages. It is a respectable effort of trying to blend pop rock and hardcore into one 23 minute EP, though I’m not quite sure it reaches its destination in the blending. I could see No Bragging Rights playing at Warped Tour, bringing this evolving sound to the masses without hesitation and the live version might be more convincing. The EP is great for a beginner’s debut. There are obviously places that use a small amount of tweaking as with any first album, and with practice and experience. |
| The Renovation My Bitter End The intro to My Bitter End’s The Renovation is one of those intro’s that you don’t want to hear in the dark of night…unless you get off on that scare yourself to death stuff and then it’s all you baby. Taking a clip from the movie Stir of Echos where the little boy asks the ghost if it hurts to be dead, adding a Tales from the Crypt-esc organ, and then a very warped chanting reminiscent of the newer version of Thirteen ghosts seems to be a perfect way to lead the listener into the guitar driven Becoming Misfortune. I admit that when I first heard the bands name I was a little more than skeptical as to what they would sound like. It sounded so damn emo that I put it at the bottom of the review pile and it quickly made it’s way to the top of my CD stack. The Renovation shows the progression of metal into metalcore: a fuzzy grey air that resides between the two genres of metal and hardcore. Each track seems to top the other, making it hard to find one track to rein supreme over the others. But as one die hard favorite-fan I found that “The Suburbs Breed Showmen” comes to mind every time I pop the album into the CD player, coming in at a close second would be the follow up track “Comfortable with Corpses.” I recommend this album to any one that likes to bang your head. Kudos to Uprise for scoring such a talented group. |
