Death Is Birth
| Death Is Birth | ||||
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| EP by Gallows | ||||
| Released | 5 December 2011 | |||
| Genre | Hardcore punk | |||
| Length | 7:39 | |||
| Label | Thirty Days of Night, 6131 | |||
| Producer | Joby J. Ford | |||
| Gallows chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Alternative Press |   |
| Alter the Press! | 4/5 |
| Kerrang! | |
| Popmatters |   |
| Rock Sound | 9/10 |
| Thrash Hits | |
Death Is Birth is an EP released by the British hardcore punk band Gallows, released 5 December 2011 through Thirty Days of Night Records. It is the band's first release with singer Wade MacNeil, formerly of Alexisonfire, who replaced original Gallows singer Frank Carter when the latter left the band in July 2011. The EP was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Joby J. Ford of The Bronx. It includes a re-recording of the track "True Colours", previously released as a free download in August 2011.
Frank Carter the original vocalist of Gallows announced in early July 2011 that he would be leaving Gallows because of differing opinions in writing the band's follow-up album to their second release Grey Britain. His departure was effective on 1 August after the band's final tour dates. Just eight days after Frank's departure, on the 9 August 2011, MacNeil was confirmed as the new Gallows vocalist. MacNeil has stated that the members of Gallows asked him initially out of coincidence that Alexisonfire had disbanded and Gallows needed a new singer. With Frank's departure fans of the band started to believe that he left because he wanted to continue playing heavy music, while the band wanted to go in a more melodic direction; the band decided to release something to show this as false.
From the moment Wade's arrived in Britain in July Gallows started writing new material to follow up to their 2009 album Grey Britain. The ep itself was both written and recorded in a short period of time. A majority of the music featured on the extended play was written by the band before Wade had joined and that they put the finishing touches on the record with him. Lee Barratt summarises the ep as a "good release of anger" and that all the band felt "particularly venomous when Wade joined". Just a few months later in November the band made the announcement that the new extended play would be released in early December. After the band's infamous split from Warner Bros the band decided to work on an independent record label for the release, Thirty Days of Night whom they considered as "Gallows family".
The EP has been seen by critics simply as "unapologetic hardcore punk" and being the most aggressive work Gallows had done so far. A more Americanised influence can be heard throughout the EP as it's been likened to bands like Cancer Bats and Every Time I Die. MacNeil had always stated the EP helped build on what he has always liked about Gallows; he considers it being "Four songs like a kick in the teeth". In the writing of the new extended play the band focused on less typical song structures and focused on the chaotic sound from live shows. MacNeil believed that "sometimes you don’t need to overcomplicate things. Obviously, we're trying to write music that’s chaotic and is going to be something that comes across vicious-sounding live... you don’t repeat it four times, you do it once, and you don’t have a bridge." Gallows guitarist Laurent Barnard said how the EP would not sound similar to the band's third studio album by saying "If you're going to make a punk rock EP, you might as well make it the most punk rock thing you can really."
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