Bigelf – Cheat The Gallows

Releasedate: 07-09-2009; Label: Powerage Records
By: Lara Cappelli

Bigelf is a Progressive Rock band formed in 1991. In this Fall they will be touring with Dream Theater in their Progressive Nation Tour as their supporter with Opeth and Unexpect.

Theatrical. That’s the word that describes “Cheat The Gallows” better.
There are influences that go from Black Sabbath to musical stuff blended together to make a really interesting mix. The whole album is a compact work, every track is in its right place, from the trumpet of the first three songs, to the excellent guitar riffs of “The Game”. The first part of the album has more happy and optimistic songs, but the more the listening goes on the more the songs go into a rock mood that, fortunately, in the end fades to the initial sound.

A good theatrical performance is mainly about the feeling that you get throught the actors’ recitation, and in this case the “actors” are these four Californian guys who have made a really good job. This is actually the kind of album that you like or you don’t, no way in between. Strange at first listening, but genial at following ones.

Links:
Bigelf MySpace
Bigelf Official