Gallows End

Gallows End is a Heavy Metal band from Arvika/Karlstad located in western Sweden and was formed in the summer of 2007 by guitarist/vocalist Thord Klarstr?m and was originally intended as a one man project "between bands". During September 2007 Thord recorded at three-track promo featuring three songs of aggressive yet melodic heavy metal and immediately attracted the attention from several labels around the world.

Due to the great interest for these songs Thord decided to put together a full band and in the summer of 2008 the line- up was finally complete. In October of 2008 Gallows End signed a record deal with ohio based metal-label Farvahar Records LLC and will release their long awaited debut album Nemesis Divine in June 2010. The bands musical vision is to create quality heavy metal, heavily influenced by classic metal acts like Judas Priest, Accept, Iron Maiden etc. but also has influences from more recent bands like Sinergy and Gamma Ray, the style could be described as fast, aggressive but still melodic heavy metal.




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.