“Everybody loves you when you're fucking dead!” bellows Wade MacNeil on the second track from Watford's finest's third full-length. Rewind a year and a bit when Frank Carter exited stage left to work on Pure Love and apparently Gallows were just that. In between photos of cats and food, the internet was ablaze with 'Gallows RIP'. Even with the announcement of the former Alexisonfire member joining and the release of the 'Death Is Birth' EP it continued: “OMG, AlexisonFAIL!” and “Where is ginger bollocks?” were just two choice comments. Opinions are like arseholes (everyone has one and a quick Google will unearth lots of each) so here's mine: Gallows Mk II have recorded the best hardcore punk album of 2012, hands down.
Whereas previous album, 2009's 'Grey Britain', was a tightly wound social commentary wrapped up in pitch black imagery, even blacker-sounding guitars and presented by an even more tightly wound frontman, 'Gallows' is a balls out, lightning-riding rock 'n' roll hardcore record.
Gone are the Sabbath-esque riffs, high concepts and interludes. Instead, back come the patented elastic riffs that gave 2006's 'Orchestra Of Wolves' such irresistible momentum. Back come the bellow-along gang vocals that saw faces raised, bloodied from the pit, to scream them back at the band with heart and soul. Back comes the sense of, well, fun.
Let's be honest, pointing out society's ills and people's failings is all well and good, but the last thing the world needs is another Bono, especially backed by brutal and unrelenting music. That'd just be fucking tedious. Thankfully Wade, Stu (bass), Lags (guitar), Lee (drums) and Steph (guitar) aren't out to save the world. Neither are they here to make it burn. Instead they're happy to roast marshmallows on its embers and soundtrack the end-of-days party with such bangers as 'Outsider Art' and 'Depravers'.
Recorded at Watford's Broadfields Studio by Steve Sears and Thomas Mitchener, the likes of 'Nations' and 'Victim Culture' are the aural equivalent of a ground and pound – short, sharp shocks with the subtlety of a brick to the teeth. 'Last June' sees Lags and Steph coming on like Sonic and Tails with a blistering display of speed-riffing and soloing. A pummelling collection of eleven songs played with panache, with ability but most importantly with passion and conviction, 'Gallows' is for me, personally, the most important album of the year, not so much for what it says but for what it doesn't. There's no preachy messages or convoluted themes. Instead, the five-piece left every drop of blood they had to give on the studio floor. And it shows.
Gallows are a band you can still believe in, who won't let you down, who won't sell out and who will still be giving it their all at every single live show they play even two years after this record has come out.
In Gallows we trust.

Read an interview with Gallows about the new album in the new issue of Big Cheese. Order your copy from anywhere in the world here.