Gallows’ Eve
For The Black Birds
M&A Musicart
By the time their first LP, a compilation of existing singles and new material, was released Swedish trio Gallows’ Eve had their particular read on goth on lock. Stormy, anthemic, and decidedly rock, 13 Thorns was as tight and strong a debut as a band could hope for. Follow up record For The Black Birds arrives a little over a year later and doesn’t deviate from the formula it’s predecessor set forth, apart from perhaps blending its different components into a more unified and regulated sound.
Gallows’ Eve’s sturm und drang style lifts from the long tradition of continental, metal-adjacent goth rock, but is much more flexible and, frankly, memorable and hooky than nearly all of the gloom merchants in that vein one might name dating back to the Nephilim. Tunes like “The Damage”, with its seething and measured verses building to a wind-whipped half-time chorus adorned with squalling leads and Andreas Lundberg’s wounded bellow exemplify how much movement and drama Gallows’ Eve can pack into tight four-minute structures. Even when they tilt a bit more towards the Leeds style of goth on opener “Ars Corax” or straight-up butt rock on “We Chase The Dark”, the well-blended instrumentation and slick production leaves no doubt about who’s playing.
Much of the above could certainly be taken as an accurate accounting of 13 Thorns, and really it’s the fact that most of the nine tracks here contain a little bit of each of those core elements, rather than casting out into more specifically thrashing or chamber-goth directions, which distinguishes For The Black Birds from it. The epic (read: slow) balladeering of closer “The Hunger” and “Let The Storm In”, with its lithe synth-string focus, are perhaps the tracks lying the farthest afield from that core sound. Hell, even the degree to which the album’s titular corvids are repeatedly mentioned in the lyrics makes for a consistent thread. Thankfully, a fairly tight run-time and the band’s already established talent for immediate hooks keeps that sense of unity from ever feeling homogenous.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” isn’t exactly the most compelling pitch for a record, but it’s a strategy that works for Gallows’ Eve. The audience drawn to them by their previous work was likely drawn in by their talent for a style which simply isn’t executed well very often these days, and are likely hoping they keep the hot hand going. Luckily for them, For The Black Birds sits ably beside its predecessor and helps to clarify both Gallows’ Eve’s style and their place as one of the strongest trad goth bands going today. Recommended.
