Review Summary: The hottest album of 2012.
It feels to me that a lot of people that would describe themselves as music aficionados go through a similar evolution growing up, specifically in the metal genre. Stop me if this sounds familiar. You get into metal through one of the larger gateway bands like Metallica, then after a bit you start listening to what is massively popular and what people are talking about. Eventually, you start to dig in deeper enjoying different subgenres while exploring decidedly less mainstream and much more abrasive music. Somewhere along the way you write off the music you grew up with as “not serious”, effectively shoving it to the back of your closet. Finally, years later, you dust off those albums, hit play, and you realize that most of them are still a blast. They transport you back to better times, they put a smile on your face, and most importantly, they show you that there’s always room for a little fun.
This was my music journey and there may be no better band to highlight this experience than Blessthefall. They were one of the bands at the forefront of the scenecore movement that was inescapable during the early 2010’s. I now realize this was almost 15 years ago and those who weren’t around may not even know what defined this type of music. Let’s break it down in simple terms. There is an easy checklist: crushing breakdowns, open chugs, screamed verses with whiny pop choruses, almost electronized massive production popularized by Joey Sturgis, an emo aesthetic and usually some flavor of keyboards or synths. There were much larger bands in this wave like Attack Attack! and Asking Alexandria but
Witness by Blessthefall perfectly exemplifies all of these tropes executing them to a T. After discovering it in high school, it’s an album I’ve returned to over the years with its infectious energy and huge hooks indicative of the times.
After a three-year hiatus and seven years since their last album,
Gallows sees Blessthefall returning close to their peak form. The main thing I find most refreshing is that there is no dreaded “modernization”, no maturing and no trendhopping. It’s a time capsule in the best sense of the term and could’ve easily fit in 2013. Right from the jump, the opening track “mallxcore” lets you know exactly the album you are in for. It smacks you in the face with an energetic melodic riff, an elongated scream, and some impressive relentless kitwork. From there it dives into some lively stop-start chugging riffs before unveiling an absolute earworm of a hook and just in case that wasn’t enough, the song also features two extra large breakdowns for good measure.
I’ve always been impressed by the dual vocal attack of screamer Jared Warth and clean singer Beau Bokan. They have such great chemistry playing off each other perfectly and create such a pleasing contrast.
Gallows is littered with a thrilling variety of vocal inflections from Bokan to keep things fresh and vocal harmonies combining to make something special. Warth has always had a vicious streak to his high shrieks and sounds in perfect form while Bokan still somehow retains the exact same whiny high pitched tone he had in his 20’s — quite remarkable for a man who is now 43 years old. He also retains his youthful appearance to match, save for the emo fringe this time (he’s also married to Lights, some guys have it all).
Much like
Witness, the album starts off on an absolute heater with the opening four-song streak being some of their strongest material. Blessthefall knows exactly their strengths and weaknesses and they lean into them fully. They don’t drift far from their comfort zone but it’s probably for the better. They also know it’s for the best to keep this at a tight 30 minutes before it gets grating, which I greatly respect. The band’s main selling point and talent has always been crafting truly gargantuan hooks that will be stuck in your head for days. Each of these opening four tracks has just the right amount of legitimate heaviness and riffs paired with insanely catchy, extended pop-structured choruses.
“Wake the Dead” might be one of their most aggressive tracks yet, with riffing that could come off an early Architects album, you know before they became unlistenable buttrock. “Venom” is certainly the crown jewel of the album with the band expertly blending every scenecore staple into one banger that I will be listening to for a long time. The opening melodic riff has a surprising amount of moving parts and is just pure ear candy that to me is reminiscent of some of my favorite melodic metalcore bands before moving to a hard-as-nails bounce riff with Warth showcasing his harsh screams, using “in a deathgrip” to mark both the lead-in and follow-up to the hook. And the hook itself? Lengthy, ridiculously catchy, and positively contagious. Bokan knocks it out of the park, he just has an otherworldly set of pipes on him. It’s the kind of chorus that demands singing along at the top of your lungs, blasting out of your ***ty car stereo.
Let’s just slow down for a second, this is a scenecore album after all. For me, there is just a fundamental ceiling these kinds of albums can reach. Since it isn’t really billed on skilled musicianship or thoughtful lyrics, the songs are almost entirely driven by the hooks and melodies. It’s tough to go 10/10. The album starts to trail off after the opening four, with the next three featuring hooks that are underwhelming, or even slightly irritating, and not particularly memorable. “Light the Flame” is the worst offender here being the softest on the album and just incredibly generic; these are certainly the songs I do not miss from the era. The closing three songs do rebound a bit, not to earlier highs, but solid enough. An excellent feature from Story of the Year delivers yet another singable tune, with a riff at the midpoint that sounds like something Adam D could’ve created. The lyrics here range from just tolerable enough to giving you a slight cringe but let’s be real, we didn’t really come here for that. While I do think the album is well done for its style, I just can’t recommend it to everyone which I consider a slight mark against it. There are some bands from this era that rose above like early Underoath or The Devil Wears Prada but
Gallows is purely an album that is a comfort listen; if you don’t have a soft spot for the genre like I do, you probably won’t get much out of it.
As a kid, I was purely drawn to catchiness in music. If it didn’t have something you could sing along to, I wasn’t really interested. Your tastes grow as you age. Naturally, as I explored harsher subgenres of metal, I found myself more drawn to riffs and less concerned with choruses, especially ones emulating pop music, which, as a super-serious thinking man, I thought was poison. Now even older, I find myself reaching back to simpler times, partially out of nostalgia sure, but also music that makes you want to burst out into song is just plain fun. You need that release from more artistic, intricate music that demands to be taken on a deeper level. I find the same with movies. Sometimes I want to watch a thoughtful, intentionally crafted masterpiece and sometimes I want to throw on a really corny horror movie.
Gallows is the late stage Friday the 13th sequel to me. It knows exactly what it is and just wants to remind you of good times and put a grin on your face, sometimes that hits just the spot.
