Orchestra of Wolves is the debut album from Watford hardcore punk band Gallows. (Not "The Gallows"). It was released to great fanfare and had some magazines hailing them as the saviours of underground British music.

The version I have includes the additional tracks of Sick of Feeling Sick", "Black Heart Queen", Black Flag cover "Nervous Breakdown", and a cover of The Ruts song "Staring at the Rude Bois" which features UK rapper Lethal Bizzle.

It is an incredibly raw album, the production sounds minimal which really helps keep with punk edge alive. The lyrics are often a harsh commentary on life in Britain today, often violent and always angry. It is refreshing to hear someone singing in an English accent, using English expressions. This is a band that play with a lot of passion, although strangely they seem to do a better job of conveying this aggression on record than live.

There seems to be a fairly standard song structure exhibited throughout the album - there is nothing in the way of a slow song or a ballads, the songs all seem to focus on disjointed riffs, fairly fast but controlled drumming, steady bass and screamed vocals - there is none of the singing that disappointingly crept into the follow up album Grey Album.

If you want something a bit different, with a lot of edge and aggression, check this out.