Gallhammer the end rar

The End is a strange, strange record: the reason for my opening remark lies simply in the fact that it seems to be where they have truly left the planet earth and started orbiting the moon, rather than because of any real musical advances per se. It will probably win the band absolutely no new fans whatsoever, but to me, at least, it has an oddball appeal.

Last one on Tue Jul 12, pm View and Post comments. Gallhammer - The End. Reviewed by Charles. Release Date: Tracklist. What an enjoyable review to read. Love your style, looking forward to more reviews in the future! Hopefully more black metal albums. Gallhammer The End 2. Review Summary: A big departure, for the worse. Rank: 0 for Their first release, Gloomy Lights, was a raw formative display, a show of the elements of primitive rage, nihilistic anguish, and hopelessly bleak torment that would be a characteristic of Gallhammer and would be refined--or, perhaps, distilled to an even more archaic, primitive state--on their next release, Ill Innocence.

The choice was between capsizing due to the loss of what would seem to be an instrumental member--though really anyone can play the guitar lines with very little difficulty--finding someone else, or continuing as a two piece band. For better or for worse, Gallhammer chose the third option--and their subsequent release, The End, took a quick dive into 'for worse' territory.

Where the band truly went wrong was in assuming an album built on agonizingly dull, content-bereft songs was worth their effort and their belief that a smoky, grimy atmosphere would effectively mask the lack of intelligent songwriting here. Some people accuse fans of Gallhammer as really only listening to the band because they're an all-female group which is rare in the world of extreme metal , but that never really applied to me.

What drew me into this certainly unique group was their sound--the combination of doom metal, black metal, and crust punk that Gallhammer pulled off so eerily and so excellently on their first two albums, Gloomy Lights and Ill Innocence. It was their sound which was, to me, unique and quite simply awesome , that immediately made me a fan of this group. Unfortunately, in , guitarist Mika Penetrator departed the band to focus on another group.

In , they put out their latest album 'The End'--and it's a significant departure from the sound that initially brought me into Gallhammer. Not in any way a departure for the worst, but it doesn't have that feel that, for me, is characteristic of Gallhammer at their best. The music is as gloomy, morose, and, in terms of tone and atmosphere, quintessentially 'Gallhammer' as ever, conveying that same despair and overwhelming gloom that they have always been so skilled at portraying.

Vivian Slaughter's indecipherable but incredible vocals are as visceral and loaded with desperate emotion as ever, and her bass hasn't lost the driving, distorted tone I've always liked about it. As for drummer Risa Reaper And that brings me to how this differs so significantly from the first two albums. It's more atmospheric, and the songs shift more to a general feeling of doom and gloom rather than the more focused instrumentation of their first two releases; they're longer on average as well.

In this album, as well, Vivian's snarling is not the only singing present; Risa Reaper's voice is first heard on "Aberration", and when I first heard it I thought at first that Gallhammer had recruited a nine year old girl to do some of the singing. I'm not sure why they made the decision--perhaps the sheer contrast between Risa's light, girly vocals and Vivian's hellish, deep growls and torturous shrieks--but I'm not too big on it.

That may only be me, however; perhaps in time I'll come to enjoy it and understand what it lends to the sound musically, but until then, I prefer Vivian's singing a lot more. So that's "The End"; I won't say it's 'bad', per se, but it's a rather large departure from the sound I've always greatly admired.

I just didn't feel the whole time I was listening to it that it was the Gallhammer I first came to be a fan of. I still enjoyed the album, make no mistake; viewing it as a completely impartial observer, I would have rated it higher. Maybe that's another thing I'll figure out the more I listen to this album. But some people with respectable opinions really like them, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

If you've ever heard the band before, The End will give you no surprises. They still have a lo-fi aesthetic and very simple songs, with some played fast and punky, but most as dirges.