Description
When word gets out that there is an all-female — Japanese, no less — trio that has formed to pay respect to extreme metal gods like the oft-misunderstood Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Amebix, and doom, sludge, and black metal in the general sense, people tend to take note. Now we can experience Tokyo’s Gallhammer live with this concert recorded at the Colchester Conventions Centre in the UK -a place not other than a deconsecrated church- in 2007 with only 4 cameras that do an excellent job of superbly capturing the ultra-intense performance from a chick trio from Japan who play a weird mixture of doom metal and crust -let’s just say they wear Celtic Frost an Amebix t-shirts, but the moniker is a tribute to their favourite band, Hellhammer,gal…..hammer, get it? These girls really take their stage presence and attitude very seriously, from the way they wear rigorous crust-black to the total absence of eye contact -let alone any kind of interaction- with the audience down to the The Ring film-inspired makeup that make them look like zombies – but fails to make the bassist unattractive….if you know what I mean. The picture is a sharp widescreen, with awesome edition that shows everything OK except for the drummer that gets only frontal shots, esp. on the song in which she leads vocals -incredibly high pitched, highly counterpointing the rotten, deathy style of the other two gals. Drumming is a tad sloppy and I could have used louder snares in the mix, which, by the way, is incredibly good, so I’m not complaining. Guitar and bass use inhuman amounts of distortion and the open notes from the 4th string of the bass made the floor shake under my feet. If you’re into Amebix, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, or even crust or black metal as I am, chances are you’ll LOVE every one of the main feature’s 47′ . Extras include a few tracks recorded in clubs in Oslo and London, a couple of video clips made by mixing studio songs with edited live footage, and a 17′ interview with the band. A bit lacking ? You bet, but at realistic volume level you’ll get the same tinnitus -and satisfaction- I experienced. Get this, you’ll thank me later. Japanese bands rule!
Track list:
1. Hallucination
2. Speed Of Blood
3. Blind My Eyes
4. Song Of Fall
5. May Our Father Die
6. Beyond The Hate Red
7. Crucifixion
8. Endless Nauseous Days
9. At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair
10. Hallucination-live Barfly, London
11. Blind My Eyes-live Barfly, London
12. At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair-live Barfly, London
13. Crucifixion-live Club Maiden, Oslo
14. At The Onset Of The Age Of Despair-live Club Maiden, Oslo
15. Speed Of Blood-live Club Maiden, Oslo
16. Hallucination-video
17. World To Be Ashes-video
18. Band Interview
19. Photo Galllery