Gallhammer – “The End”

I’m not sure where to begin with this disc; The End is the latest release from Japanese black metal band Gallhammer. I’d heard quite a bit about this female-fronted metal outfit and was quite interested in checking them out. What I found left me utterly speechless. Buried beneath a wall of distortion, noise and incessant screaming are some pretty good grooves. The problem is that as good as those grooves are, it wasn’t worth enduring the auditory battering that I put myself through.

Honestly, this whole disc is so completely over driven and noisy that I found it ridiculous and virtually impossible to listen to; it truly gave me a massive headache. In the name of fairness I did persevere through the torture, but it was difficult. I even began to wonder if this was even a serious project or more of an experiment in pushing boundaries and limits. Not sure what to say about this one except that I found it to be a great big mess and not worth the time it took to listen through. If experimental, doom, indie black metal is your thing you might dig this, but for me, it just does not work.

Track Listing:

01. The End
02. Rubbish CG202
03. Aberration
04. Sober
05. Entropy G35
06. Wander
07. 108=7/T-NA

Run Time: 45:56
Release Date: 05.17.2011

Check out this album teaser