In summary:

Gallus is a well-rounded album which builds upon the momentum of Gun’s solid first effort. It transformed them from rock hopefuls to rock standouts, and listening back some 30-years later it’s easy to see why they were such a popular band.

Gallus receives 7/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Gun found themselves in a precarious position in 1992.

Eager to build upon the moderate success of their 1989 debut Taking On The World, the Glaswegian rockers had seen the emergence of grunge lay waste to several of their rock idols, and questions were being asked as to whether their follow-up album would meet the same fate.

Thankfully, they had no reason to worry.

You see, Gun have always been a band that does their own unique thing regardless of what was going on around them. So while the Van Halen’s and the Motley Crue’s of the world were coming to terms with the new world order, Gun simply carried with their unique “Billy Idol meets early U2” sound without much fuss. The result is Gallus; an album which takes everything which was commendable about their first effort and drills down further.

Album opener Steal Your Fire probably goes down as the best song the band have written to date, and it landed them their highest charting single (#24).

This is followed by other standout moments which include the slow-building Higher Ground, the radio-friendly Reach Out For Love, and the impactful Long Road which features a guitar riff that’s so easy on the ear you’ll wonder why nobody’s written it before now.

It’s noteworthy that many of these tracks fit the vibe of their debut album, but while some of it lacks the groove of it’s predecessor, the band certainly appear much more confident and experienced thanks to three years of relentless touring between the two releases.

The only real “low point” of Gallus is that Gun occasionally appear incapable of matching a solid chorus with a solid verse. For example, the driving Won’t Back Down sets off on what’s looking like a fantastic journey, only to be dragged down by a lacklustre chorus which sounds like a straight ripoff of Free’s Alright Now.

Gallus was largely well-received by critics upon release, and despite the fact that sales were a little disappointing, this was largely put down to it being released in an era where everybody had been caught up by the grunge wave.

Interestingly, it also landed them a lifelong fan in the form of Iron Maiden’s Steve Harris (above).

Yes, seriously.

The legendary bass player enjoyed Gallus so much that he proudly wore a Gun t-shirt during several live shows throughout Maiden’s “Fear Of The Dark” world tour, and even added a condition into his contract for the upcoming Monsters Of Rock: Madrid festival to say that Maiden would only appear if Gun were added to the bill.

This put the Glaswegian upstarts on the world stage for the first time, albeit as the unlikely members of a unique 4-band line-up which also included Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Megadeth, and the shows they put on were solid enough to lead to eventual tours with the altogether more suitable Bon Jovi and Def Leppard.

Gallus may not be a groundbreaking record, but it definitely proved that Gun’s first album was no fluke. It peaked at #14 in the UK Album Chart, and produced another three Top 40 singles for the band, although it’ll ultimately be best-remembered as the album which set them on the path towards their career-defining third record, Swagger.

In summary:

Gallus is a well-rounded album which builds upon the momentum of Gun’s solid first effort. It transformed them from rock hopefuls to rock standouts, and listening back some 30-years later it’s easy to see why they were such a popular band.

Gallus receives 7/11.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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