Staring At The Rude Bois (Orchestra Of Wolves - Gallows)

Member Name: rleigh

Product:	Orchestra Of Wolves - Gallows
Date:	18/03/08 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some strong tracks are contained within this album.

Disadvantages: Much of the album is disappointing and lacks life.

Gallows are a hardcore punk band from Watford. Their début album 'Orchestra of Wolves' was originally released through the UK independent label In At The Deep End Records, however in July 2007 Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz gave it a US release through Epitaph Records. Since then the band have signed a million pound four album recording contract with major label Warner Bros, and have resultantly re-released their 'Orchestra of Wolves' album through the label. In November 2007 the album was granted with a 'Special Edition' release and therefore this is the latest (and greatest) incarnation of the album 'Orchestra of Wolves'.

So why buy the special edition? It's not just worth owning for the pretty pink cover you know, it certainly makes the album a more attractive prospect but in truth it is the extra tracks that make this edition of the album worthwhile. Originally the 'Orchestra Of Wolves' album contained twelve tracks, but here we have an impressive sixteen which does of course include their joint effort with Lethal Bizzle entitled 'Staring At The Rude Bois'. The extra four tracks here certainly help to complete the album, and I can have no complaints with the closing track of the aforementioned Lethal Bizzle collaboration.

The album begins impressively with the track 'Kill the Rhythm', it kicks things off in an explosive manner and instantly it grabs your attention. What begins so strongly soon takes a quick nosedive however as second track 'Come Friendly Bombs' just isn't very effective at all. It has all the makings of a good track and the guitars make all the right noises, but you just don't feel as though the band really mean it, there is no real aggression in the track and it is completely devoid of personality and life. This is something I would say is true of a lot of this album, their hearts just don't seem to be in the music and it therefore makes for quite disappointing listening. I had heard murmurings that this was one of the best albums of 2006, but to say this is just really an insult to the year 2006. It wasn't that bad a year for music and this album probably wouldn't even make my top 25 if I were to compile a list of the albums I believe to be the best from the year.

It's not all doom and gloom, some of the music on this album is quite impressive, it just never really leaves much of a lasting impact on me. For a supposed hardcore band they don't seem to be very hardcore, and in fact much of the time there is no real venom in their music whatsoever. They try, I'll give them that but much of the time they just fail to offer anything particularly worthwhile to the genre. 'Rolling with the Punches' however is one track in which the band are greatly effective. It is a strong track where the vocals come belting out and the guitar riffs are absolutely flawless. Few times on this release do the band show this level of confidence in their music, but this is certainly one of them. It is without doubt one of my favourite tracks from the album, and although I could probably count the highlights from this release on one hand only, I would certainly consider 'Rolling with the Punches' to be one of the best tracks that the band have to offer with their 'Orchestra Of Wolves' album.

Originally the closing track, title track 'Orchestra Of Wolves' is another that I would consider to be up there amongst the best that this album has to offer. It was highly effective as a closing track on the standard release of this album and is one that I have listened to many a time since purchasing this album. What's so great about this one is that it possesses the presence that much of this album fails to offer. The band truly sound like they mean it on this one and as a result the track comes flying out with great vigour and an intense believability. You really get the impression that the band enjoyed recording this one, they fire through the track in an intense attack of hardcore ferocity and at no point in the track do they ever disappoint. The vocals possess a true Punk spirit, they are spat out by Gallows main man Frank Carter and whilst with this special edition of the album the track no longer serves the purpose of closing the proceedings, it certainly still feels like a finishing point for the album.

'Staring At The Rude Bois' is one final moment of glory that I feel that this album has to offer. Although it was not originally included on their album, with this special edition release (and in fact the US release of the album also) it is the track chosen to provide the album with its final minutes. Whilst I greatly appreciated title track 'Orchestra Of Wolves' as a closer, this one doesn't fare too badly either and is in fact another of my favourites from this release. Once more the band really seem like their hearts are in this one and it really effectively pulled off. Powerful and greatly enjoyable, 'Staring At The Rude Bois' is one of the best hardcore tracks I have heard in a long while. The Lethal Bizzle breakdown that comes in midway through the track works brilliantly well, making this by far the best moment that the album has to offer. Coming at sixteen tracks in, it obviously comes quite late in the game but is nonetheless greatly appreciated and a track that although I have only been listening to for a couple of months now is quickly becoming a definite favourite of mine.

On the whole I would say that the 'Orchestra of Wolves' album from Gallows is really a bit of a disappointment. There are a number of tracks here that are admittedly greatly effective, but much of the album washes over me without making anything of a significant impact upon myself. The reason that I gave this album a listen in the first place was that I had heard great things said about Gallows, things that made me really want to listen to their music and actually got me greatly excited about listening to what they had to offer. I gave the album one listen on the internet and decided that never again would I listen to their music, hardly any of the music had pleased me at all and little did I want to hear of them ever again. When they released 'Staring At The Rude Bois' I was prepared to give them another try, perhaps I had not given the album enough time before and given how much this one track pleased me I decided that listening to the album some more was vital. When I saw that this album had been released complete with four new tracks I was completely sold and quick to get out there and buy myself this album. Unfortunately, having done so I realise that my first thoughts about the band were fairly correct and that the band genuinely do have very little to offer. Four or five tracks from this release I regularly listen to and the rest I ignore, to me this album is grossly overrated and on the whole the listening experience is not a pleasant one. If I want to listen to dull and uninspired hardcore music then there are plenty of bands out there to choose from, there is simply not enough strong material contained on this album to warrant a recommendation from myself here. Hardcore music can be excellent, too much of the time Gallows are not.

Summary: Some of this album impresses, but a lot of the music here disappoints.