Record(s) of the Week 3/2/2012

Basement – Whole (BBC Rock Show Session)

So it is just a live recording, with a couple of dodgy corners and some weird delay on the vocals (although that might just be internet streaming for you). But Basement’s new track ‘Whole’ is still a stormer. Channelling the bouncing riffs and crashing cymbals of ‘I Wish I Could Stay Here’ with a feel that is distinctly early 90s alt. rock, complete with some guitar work near the end of the song that is like Mudhoney just stepped out of your speakers it speaks of a bright future. ‘Lie to me, lie to me, make me see’ sings Andrew Fisher in his now familiar raw edged delivery during the chorus.

Of course it isn’t a studio recording and for all I know the song could change a lot by the time it’s committed to tape (if it ever is). But on the evidence so far, we don’t have much to fear from the band’s new record.

(The full session is worth a listen, this is one of two songs played around the 1 hour and 20 minute mark with another two songs in the first hour of the show http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01b8wvy/Rock_Show_with_Daniel_P_Carter_Basement_in_session/)

Gallows – Death Is Birth

Before we get started I want to make something known. I’m not one of those people who like criticizing bands. Regardless of genre (almost) every band/artist I know of makes music because they enjoy it and want people to hear it. As such, I really don’t like stringing up a new release and beating it to death with its own imperfections. This is why you don’t see many negative reviews here on Easynoiz.

All of this probably has you thinking that I am now, having made a lame attempt at defending my actions, going to cut Gallows’ ‘Death Is Birth’ EP to pieces with my razor sharp wit and scathing sarcasm. I’m not; it’s just that I may end up being a bit nasty in places. I’m also, from this point on, not going to mention Frank Carter, because the amount of scene judgement the band have got for simply getting a new singer when the old one left is ridiculous enough without me weighing in.

So, ‘Death Is Birth’, just under eight minutes of hardcore punk rock released via Thirty Days Of Night records. What do you need to know? Well first up its clearly an attempt by the band to go back to basics. The pianos/keyboards and other clutter that found its way onto ‘Grey Britain’ is all gone. Instead we have, within the instrumentation at least, a much more ‘Orchestra of Wolves’ feel. Fast paced, dissonant and as in-your-face as your drunk ex-boyfriend in a club. The songs are short and sharp and don’t waste a second of their time. All of this is very positive; however the music is only one part of a song as a whole.

Wade MacNeil has had his vocal style compare to Fucked Up’s Pink Eyes by more than one person I know and I can see why. Imagine a bear gargling gravel and broken glass and you’ll be along the right lines. On its own his vocal style isn’t bad at all, however here it jars with almost everything else. On ‘Mondo Chaos’ (the EPs worst track) he sounds out of place and on the breakneck ‘Hate!Hate!Hate!’ there is a distinct Alexisonfire vibe that again, just doesn’t sit well at times. The problem becomes particularly apartment on the semi-spoken lines (such as in the last quarter of ‘Hate!’) where he sounds just plain awkward.

There are some brilliant moments however. On ‘Death Is Birth’ and ‘True Colours’ the vocals and music blend, along with some of the EPs better lyrics, to create some genuinely very good moments. There are glimpses of some real potential right across the EP, but on the whole they are obscured by the aforementioned vocalist issues and some out and out dodgy lyrics.

Congratulations are on order to Gallows for having the brass balls not only to carry on in the face of some serious antagonism and for taking things in a different direction from ‘Grey Britain’. You get the feeling that they really are trying to carve out their own sound and niche within the genre. However you can’t help but think that if this was being released by a band that didn’t have two highly successful albums and a huge existing fan base behind them, it wouldn’t have made much of a splash.

Patchx