Song: "The Vulture (Act I & II)"
Artist: Gallows
Album: "Grey Britain"
Year: 2009
Usually I try to interpret the lyrics of my song of the week by saying a little about what I think the song may be about. But with "The Vulture (Act I & II)", I'll write exactly what the songwriter, Frank Carter, said it is about. Here's Carter's quote regarding "The Vulture (Act I & II)", "I was thinking about all the forgotten children who die before their parents, and this song is about one of those poor bastards becoming Death's apprentice". There ya go!! Gallows are an English hardcore punk band that formed back in 2005. In 2006, the band released their debut album, "Orchestra Of Wolves". This album caught the attention of Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz, who also owns Epitaph Records. Gallows and Gurewitz worked out a deal for the album to be distributed in the United States by Epitaph. Gurewitz went on to say that "Orchestra Of Wolves" was the best hardcore album since the Refused's "The Shape Of Punk To Come". 2007 was a year that Gallows worked the festival circuit hard. They appeared at the South By Southwest festival, the Warped Tour, Download festival, Taste of Chaos tour and the Reading festival all in that year. The band's single, "Staring At The Rude Bois", a Ruts cover, was the band's first UK Top 40 single. In 2008, the band made the song "Gold Dust" available for free download through their MySpace page. This song was not set to appear on the band's next album. 2009 saw the release of "Grey Britain". This album was released by Warner Bros. marking it their major label debut. Their relationship with Warner Bros. would only last one album however as the band and the label parted ways some time after the release of "Grey Britain". "The Vulture (Act I & II) was the first single released off of this album. Gallows wound up doing some support tours for acts such as AFI and Rage Against The Machine while supporting "Grey Britain". In 2011, lead vocalist Frank Carter decided to leave the band amid conflicts about the musical direction of Gallows. If you've heard Carter's later project, Pure Love, you can sense that he wanted his music to be more accessible and radio friendly, but maintain a certain garage feel. Gallows was a hardcore band, plain and simple, and the other members wanted it to stay that way. Carter played his last show with the band on July 23, 2011 in London. The band decided to replace Carter with former Alexisonfire frontman Wade MacNeil. His first recording with the band was a forty second track entitled "True Colours" which was a free download. In December of 2011, the band released a four track EP called "Death Is Birth". In 2012, the band released the full length "Gallows", the first full length album to feature their new vocalist. This album was distributed in North America by Bridge Nine Records. Gallows are very well respected in the hardcore music scene. Time is going to tell how well the band will be received after the departure of Frank Carter. He was an intregal part to the band's sound and songwriting and you can tell when you compare their first two albums to their third. By saying this, I'm not saying that the band is a disappointment with MacNeil on vocals, I'm just saying it's not the same. Currently, there's been no new updates as to whether Gallows is at work on new material at this time. I'm sure they are still doing some shows in support of their 2012 self/titled release.
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