CLOAK
CLOAK “Black Flame Eternal”
By Lord Randall
Having seen the Atlanta quartet open for IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT in what amounts to a shoebox with a bar inside earlier this year, I can vouch that CLOAK’s “is it black/death or death/black” hybridization does carry over well into a live setting. To be honest, I’ve never “gotten” the WATAIN comparisons, as, musically, CLOAK has more clarity while managing to haunt – and thus far thrive in – the shades beyond dark and light, good and evil when it comes to lyrical fare.
Striking hard and early the anvil of the search for enlightenment, “Ethereal Fire” ignites, the band sounding full-bodied and tinged with a slight gothic element as always, less the DANZIG to which occasional comparisons have been drawn, but more austere, almost OPHTHAMALIA and latter-day TRIBULATION in execution. “Shadowlands” does delve deeper into the gothic style, shimmering guitar passages, drum fills aplenty, keys to the fore of the mix, yet an image is conjured, a nebulous world, a character in the search for definition, for meaning.
“Invictus” moves forward at a steady gait at first, and while I’d have liked to hear CLOAK stick with the opening fury a bit longer, the tune is a veritable whirlwind of sonic colors, mountains crashing into valleys, valleys rearing up to take the place of the fallen, and as much as I want to fault the band for not sticking with any shade on their ever-growing sonic palette for long here, it works, and I believe the swirling mass is what the foursome was attempting to evoke at any rate.
Choirs begin and are interwoven into “The Holy Dark”, spoken word moments, all the while stabbed and shot through with vocal snarl and rhythmic pulse, the guitars slithering serpentine around the ankles of the choristers, and it’s here I begin to sense elements of MELECHESH, of Canada’s WEAPON in what’s happening here, all welcome. “Heavenless” finds the band fully embracing some of the Projekt Records catalogue along with SOL INVICTUS and EMPYRIUM, lush acoustics and keys sending us into the closing title track.
In short, “Black Flame Eternal” is both a benchmark and a watershed release, a rare birth, indeed. On the one hand, it’s clear CLOAK knew how important this third showing was, and on the other, the band could take many routes from here. Impressive.