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Gallows End: Nemesis Divine

Heavy/Thrash/Power Metal

3.5/5.0

Farvahar Records/Nightmare Records
www.myspace.com/gallowsend
www.gallowsend.com
Review: Craig Hartranft,  06.28.2010

With the old school being the new school in metal these days, classic metal has a happy clan of headbangers in Sweden's Gallows End. Nemesis Divine is their debut work on the fledging Ohio label Farvaher Records. Name any of the 80's giant that made thrash, speed, or power metal great in the day, filter it through a copious amount of European melodic metal of the same, and you will hear it in Gallows End's metal.

The pace is quick and determined on Nemesis Divine, no room for metal ballads here. Most songs here, like Nemesis Divine, Kingdom of the Damned, or Not Your Own, blur the distinction between thrash and speed metal, but the lyrical arc and persistent melody lends Nemesis Divine to a Maidenesque power metal. This is notable on the finishing piece Riders of the North. Like many of the current bands invoking the best of history's heavy metal, Gallows End performs the style with effortless acumen. This might be their single best attribute, and their greatest flaw. While they are masters of their genre, there is nothing truly novel or inventive here. In other words, Gallows End is not adding anything promising or new to the craft of classic metal, just simply performing it exceptionally well. To this end, Gallows End and their debut disc is to be highly commended. Don't look for any earthshaking paradigm shift in the realm of heavy metal music. But, hey, I dig the old school, and when done well, it's as fresh as it was 25 years ago. Gallows End gets it right. Recommended.

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Gallows End is not adding anything promising or new to the craft of classic metal on Nemesis Divine, just simply performing it exceptionally well. To this end, Gallows End and their debut disc is to be highly commended.

Alphabetical Index

eviewing my archives, I was pleased to find that I have had the privilege to review every Lionville since their self-titled debut in 2011. Formed by Stefano Lionetti, a songwriter, singer and guitarist based in ... [ Read More ]