Lord Elzevir and Mouth of Greed, the two creative lords behind Gallows, aren’t messing around. The Salem-based black metal unit plays, pure, raw, straightforward second-wave black metal. And you know what that means: cold, snarling guitars; wretched, soul-piercing vocals; and backbreaking rhythms. Sure, there’s lots of bands like this swirling around the underground nowadays, but who cares? If you do something as well as these guys play the true northern darkness, there’s no need to break new ground for its own sake. The guitar tones are perfect, and the band weaves in just the right amount of melody into the riffs to make it interesting.
Here’s how the band describes their sound, along with the new track, “Come and See:”
“We play traditional black metal — full stop. As old-school fans of the genre, we were fed up with the modern sound and decided to dig back down to the roots. We wrote 66 Black Wings under the shroud of the pandemic, fueled by blasphemy and booze. The name, Gallows, is inspired by the location in which the songs were conceived and recorded: Gallows Hill, Salem, where innocents were once executed by Protestant fanatics. But our lyrics and themes are broader than just the tragedy of the witch murders, as depraved and quintessentially American as they were. We celebrate the Devil across all manner of texts and times, from the Ars Goetia to Venom. “Come and See” is our hymn to the end of worlds.”
Check out “Come and See” below and keep an ear out for the band’s album, 66 Black Wings, out on June 18. Check out the band’s Bandcamp page for pre-order and merch information.
