GALLOWS POLE – Revolution

Gallows Pole is a leading Hard Rock band from Austria with over 30 years of experience. Isn’t that incredible? Especially when one listens to the songs on the new album Revolution. It is difficult to understand what drove Karthago Records to release this album, as it cannot impress at all – but certainly someone must have found something to justify the waste of raw materials by pressing this CD. But just as certainly, that something is difficult to spot.

The first track starts with some poppy chorus, which is difficult to bear, but it does not get any better. The three musicians – or more, actually there are three on the band pic but more in the list of musicians, so maybe some were too ashamed to be in the picture? – play a style somewhere between Austrian’s Opus and some standard Hard Rock which would put a high school ball to sleep. The riffing is old fashioned, to put it mildly, the constant repetition of the chorus – okay, that is indeed something that other bands do too, only those have better refrains – is unnerving, and none of the tracks shows any inspiration or originality. The only thing that sets them apart is the voice of Alois Binder, which is unique, but also somewhere between whiny and nagging.

During the course of the album one is constantly tempted to skip to the next track, and if the band ever plays in a nursing home, half the audience will silently pass away during the gig, as this is the sonic equivalent of an overdose of sleeping pills. Surprisingly, the band managed to record a song like “Falling Star” without falling into a deep slumber. Listening closer to the songs is not much help, as the lyrics also are platitudinous at best, often flat out embarrassing. Okay, it is not their native language, but still…

The album cannot be recommended at all. The score of 1.5 consists of 0.5 points for trying, 0.5 points for the nice pic printed on the CD, and 0.5 points because one can use the CD to shield one’s eyes while looking at the next solar eclipse. Does anybody know when the next one is happening?