Artist: Gallower
Country: Poland
Label: Dying Victim Productions
Formats: LP / CD
Year: 2025
The current stream of bands playing a Punk-ish, Heavy Metal-tinged sort of Black/Thrash Metal seems endless. And in such situations it is rather hard to stand out of the crowd, since the rise to fame of Midnight I don’t think any other band has been able to do that in convincing fashion. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any good bands around. On the contrary, but it is just hard for the audience to not be overwhelmed and to separate the boys from the men. The Polish band of Gallower has been trying to give their luck a shot with their brand of extremely recognizable blend of Blackened Heavy Metal with Thrash elements. The band’s debut album from 2020, ‘Behold The Realm Of Darkness’ was just as generic as the title suggests, but the follow-up EP, ‘Eastern Witchcraft’, that appeared two years later, felt like a step up. Now, three years later the band returns with their sophomore album, so let’s see what these guys have in store for us this time…
The “problem” with Gallower, if you’d like to call it that way, is that they offered some solid or good stuff, but I am sure that the majority of the people who heard their music wouldn’t remember or recognize it if you’d ask them a couple of weeks on. Gallower showed a serious lack of an own profile or unique identifiers. Maybe not too big a deal, because their music provided a fun and enjoyable time, but that clearly is not enough for world domination.
Clearly, ‘Vengeance & Wrath’ is yet another step forward compared to their debut album and their last EP, let alone the rather clunky first steps. And, let’s be fair, this is a genre that is not too easy to reinvent or be creative and adventurous with. So, what’s left is to go for the throat and the strangle your listeners with sharp-as-a-knife riffs and smothering intensity. In that process Gallower took another few steps, especially the first half of the album is easily the best these Polish have ever put forward. Still heavily leaning on Sodom’s post-Black Metal period, some riffs and songs are almost shameless mirror images of tracks taken from ‘Persecution Mania’ and, to a slightly lesser extent, ‘Agent Orange’. But there’s still a lot of Motörhead, Venom and pre-‘Reign In Blood’ Slayer to enjoy as well. Some tracks on ‘Vengeance & Wrath’ are definitely great bangers from back to forth, especially the ones with a more brisk pace. But it is also hard to deny that as the album progresses the intensity wanes and the album gets reduced to merely background music.
So, still no world domination for Gallower. And the title of the record feels a bit pretentious as the music isn’t that mean or aggressive enough to pass for a successful action of vengeance and wrath. Much of this, by the way, is to blame to a rather flat and soulless production that lacks every sort of punch or kick, a missed change for sure. BUT, while this all might sound a bit harsh, I am aware that many people who are just looking for some headbanging tunes will feel very welcomed by this latest Gallower record. And yes, for the most part, ‘Vengeance & Wrath’, again, is indeed a fun and enjoyable listen. In fact, all the criticism aside, the fun-bit is still the part that prevails.
