A bouncy bass line opens the album as, instrument by instrument, the band begins to join into the energetic opening track “Weird Time” for Reno pirate punks The Deadly Gallows. It’s been over a decade since their last full-length album was released but the mood is set with staccato plucks of a frenetic banjo over melodious accordion that paints a landscape over steady yet corybantic drums and washboard, only parted momentarily by a wailing guitar. All these players make a mad musical melee that reaches its crescendo almost as quickly as it built.
On Ode II Gard the Reno, NV octet uses basically everything but the kitchen sink to set a jaunty yet haunted rip through an album of mad marauder music recorded at Pus Caverns by Joe Johnston. The naming of the album is an ode to their late drummer Niels Odegard who passed away unexpectedly over the summer. This album is not a somber remembrance though, it’s a pirate party, and though I was not personally close to Niels it seems like a proper send-off.
The 8-member ensemble grooves to the second track “Decisions” which goes from a dark dance feel with growled lyrics about life decisions and regret to a faster section of soloing over a modern punk/dub rhythm that stabs at you with the hook of the music.
“Dead Man’s Tale” is a lament from the grave of a man who has been wronged which has the entire gang of instrumentalists shouting along “dead men do tell tales.” The following track “Madness” keeps the energy of the last track, and, even through the hectic fiddle from violinist Alan Lyons, a gleam of optimism is shown in lines like “And all my friends, this is not the end, it’s just a one-way ride through hell and back again” which reframes the twisted world narrated by lead vocalist John Underwood.
We get more upbeat yet restless tracks like “Rise From the Depths” that serve the theatrical nature of this band, or songs like “Lockjaw”, which was first featured on their eponymous 2009 album, features some trombone work from Boss’ Daughter’s own Chris Fox, that add to the legend of this band. We get deeper subject matter about watching loved ones struggle with addiction in “Throw Your Life Away” which delivers gut punches rhythmically as well as lyrically in verses that bemoan the situation, “I find myself trying too hard to please you. I’ve had my fill of all of your evil treasons and all along, I still get dramatic scenes and we are all still wrong.”
As the album comes to a close we get two more rollicking tunes, “4AM” and “Seasick” the latter of which really shows off the cohesion of this crew. Call-and-answer vocals between Underwood and the gang he’s leading swagger around the song, and an ear-catching shared solo between violin and guitarist Hector Acevedo leads us back into the next verse before we are once again under the seasick supervision of Underwood in the chorus.
This is a fun album. Each individual member of this band brings depth through the chaos of it all. I’m a sucker for musical comedy and novelty songs, but The Deadly Gallows aren’t a one-off novelty, they’re weirdos and I love them. Call it what you want, pirate punk, guttergrass, antifolk, but if you like raucous gang vocal punk then this album has something for you.
