It’s strange, I’ve reviewed Gallhammer once, maybe twice before and always failed to mention the obvious. I was criticised for not playing the gender card; the reason being that I didn’t want my review to reduce this Japanese trio to simply being a “girl band” gimmick. While the scene is overflowing with female-fronted metal bands, you can’t deny that being a group made up of 3 cute oriental ladies playing crusty blackened doom (you know, as opposed to more clean and ladylike Gothic or power metal) is a marketing executive’s wet dream. Doubtlessly, there seem to be a hundred ugly, hairy blokes out there who are making a similar sort of racket and feeling pretty damn bitter that the record labels aren’t queuing up to sign them, and that it’s not their faces gracing the cover of a certain British extreme metal magazine. Isn’t life unfair? But I shall come back to this later on.
I was pleased to find out that Peaceville were re-issuing this debut album, which was originally self-released in 2003 and has thus been quite difficult to get hold of until now. A number of the tracks appeared on ‘The Dawn Of…’ which was a compilation of demo and live recordings that came out shortly after they got signed. Still, some albums just sound better when in the order originally intended and it’s nice to have the complete article in a lovely hardback digipak cover to boot. The album begins with ‘Endless Nauseous Days’ which maunders in at a pace that certainly doesn’t suggest anyone is in a hurry. This has a deeply unsettling kind of emptiness about it and minimalist is a good word to describe as Vivian Slaughter provides an endless, droning croak over a simple guitar line, drawing out like the terminal days of bedridden sickness. For a while things don’t seem to go anywhere although as all is joined by the earth-shattering bass the rest falls into place taking us on a tortured and joyless journey through melancholia.
The spirit livens up for the ‘Crucifixion’ which is where the Galls punk influences are exhibited especially in the bassline and guitars rhythmically trot along in unison while the drums attempt to keep up the pace. Chaotic is the word and production wise this sounds like it was recorded in a basement with the shittiest gear imaginable. There is nothing clean about their sound; it really is caked in filth and distortion and musically this is as crude as it comes; if you value high technical skill then you may wish to turn away and it’s probably worth mentioning even yours truly can strum along to some of their stuff and sound half decent! I can see how this could be construed by some as a load of noise, but there is also a great deal of emotion and atmosphere within that noise that is strangely pleasurable to listen to if you are able to connect with it on that level. ‘Tomurai (May Our Father Die)’ sounds particularly oppressive and crushes you beneath the doomy riffage while Mika Penetrator unleashes her most guttural of growls until the chorus kind of brightens up like the sun breaking through the clouds on a grim and rainy day. This one is particularly hypnotic in its repetition and at one point a militant drum roll threatens to break through the mix. Speaking of hypnotic though, the instrumental ‘State Of Gloom’ lives up to its name slowly building and luring you in while the bass fuzzes its way around you.
I love the ferocious barked vocals on ‘Beyond The Hate Red’ they sound particularly menacing and also there’s an eeriness as the jangly post-punk guitar line cuts through all the distortion and chaos which adds nicely to the sound here and also on ‘State Of Gloom.’ ‘Color Of Coma’ is the ten minute long headfuck that brings the main part of the album to a close (there are two bonus tracks succeeding it); distortion wavering in the mix as guitars merely threaten to emerge while the cries of anguish rise gradually in both volume and intensity.
Returning to my original point, while Gallhammer have a sound that is raw and filthy and it’s clear where their influences lie, there is a subtle air of femininity about it at the same time which I do think sets them apart musically. This comes across right from the start with the fragile wails on ‘Endless Nauseous Days’ to the general ethereality for example on ‘Lost My Self’ and in places it’s not hard to picture the sort of creepy schoolgirls you’d find in a Japanese horror movie. Perhaps Gallhammer aren’t the most original sounding band; the clue is in the name really and they wear influences such as Hellhammer, Celtic Frost and Amebix on their sleeves and not to mention their shirts. On the other hand, they have a distinctive sound which I’m sure will develop over time and the feelings of despair and hopelessness are what really comes across in their music more than anything. A worthy addition to the collection.
http://www.myspace.com/peacevillerecords
http://www.myspace.com/ghammercrust
