NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE WORLD TO PAY THE PIPER AT THE GATES OF DAWN… THE REIGN OF BIGELF IS UPON US INFECTIOUS MELODIES AND CHILLING HARMONIES THAT COLLIDE WITH AN OTHERWORLDLY EMBRACE OF THE PSYCHEDELIC
THIS EPIC ALBUM IS THE SOUNDTRACK FOR NEW WORLD DISORDER A POP-CULTURAL PHENOMENON SHAPED BY THE MUSE OF BLACK SABBATH, PINK FLOYD, QUEEN AND THE BEATLES.
Bigelf's metallic circus-influenced music is a quilt of T.Rex, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, The Beatles, and Pink Floyd. It's essentially a six-pack of kick ass. But the foursome, with their stovepipe hats and turn-of-the-century, Oliver Twist waistcoats, aren't exactly a novelty outfit. There's some serious musical muscle on their bones. Tracks off Cheat the Gallows like "Hydra" and "Gravest Show On Earth" are mammoth slabs of ominous guitars and sloth-like rhythms, everything united by Beatlesque harmonies. Other tracks, such as "Superstar" and "Blackball," play with nancy-boy pomp and glitter rock, the kind of stuff that evidently has made Alicia Keys, of all people, a fan. So for every head-banging moment there is a danceable riff right around the corner. The Angelenos' previous three records (including the smash Hex) somewhat sloppily crossed Rue Morgue imagery with men-in-tights metal. With Cheat the Gallows, the band has tightened up and wholly adopted the belief that hard rock can make you do three things: bang your head, strum the air, and shake your ass. And, hell, if you can jam some wheezing, Jon Lord-ish organs in there, go for it. The swirling, psychedelic, Barnum & Bailey zounds and Floydian romps into interstellar overdrive hover over the album like L.A. smog, giving every track a hazy and doped - but intoxicating - feeling.