Cloak - Black Flame Eternal

Angry Metal Guy

It’s no secret that the pandemic put the kibosh on the live music scene for quite some time, with aftershocks of that phenomenon still felt today. For the future of many artists releasing material late in 2019 or early 2020—like Cloak with their sophomore record The Burning Dawn—the inability to perform their latest material live to help support their reputation, their audiences, and their financials caused great strain and much uncertainty. Thankfully, Cloak dedicated every spare minute unceremoniously granted to them by the pandemic to focus on writing and perfecting new material. Considering my experience with their upcoming third record, Black Flame Eternal, I would argue that the takeaway here is that it’s better to take your time to do something well than to put out inferior product quickly at the expense of quality.

Stylistically, not too much changed between the Cloak of 2019 and that of today. Vaguely gothic, rock-and-roll-influenced black metal remains the modus operandi of this Atlanta, Georgia quartet. Their mission statement has carried over as well: reject the conventional standards and pressures of today’s society and search for your own path to fulfillment and spiritual nourishment. However, Black Flame Eternal is more aggressive—and more aggressively black metal—than before. Their Dissection, Tribulation, and Wormwitch blend somewhat disposes of many Tribulations heard on past work in favor of a heavier, riffier edge more akin to Vreid. A hint of gothic shadow still casts its pall over these tracks, providing a smoky, ominous tone in the album’s darkest passages. Nonetheless, Black Flame Eternal stands as a more rebellious, more direct, and thereby more engaging record that should largely satisfy many who were unenthused by Cloak’s pre-pandemic material.

Black Flame Eternal by Cloak

Black Flame Eternal offers well-conceived ideas and fleshed-out songwriting more consistently and at a higher standard than before. Opener “Ethereal Fire” sets off a blaze in short order, pulling out foreboding chants and affecting clean-picked leads, played in partnership with blasting tremolos and fist-pumping marches. It’s even more difficult to resist banging my head to the infectious groove of “With Fury and Vengeance” at its most venomous, while its peaceful moments leave me entranced. “Invictus” and “The Holy Dark” pummel the ground with vicious gallops and big bouncy leads and tremolos, swerving and slithering between black metal and gothic rock n’ roll with an acrobatic deftness that belies their six-plus-minute runtimes. After an admittedly lengthy introduction, “Seven Thunders” kicks things into high gear with a punchy D-beat rhythm and really cool cleans that inject a bit of gothic fun into Cloak’s most energetic record yet. To that point, Black Flame Eternal as an album flows more smoothly than past efforts, thanks to more thoughtful transitions between different paces, tones, and textures which together prime the listener for an immersive experience.

The biggest detractor in Black Flame Eternal’s case is, as before, bloat. Each and every song here could be trimmed by at least a minute and as a consequence gain greater impact with minimal loss of substance. Worst offenders “Shadowlands” and “Eye of the Abyss” test my patience, dragging along without compelling riff/lead interactions, rousing choruses, or snappy songwriting swerves. To add insult to injury, the album’s least compelling passages create an incredible amount of tension through musical foreshadowing, except that they don’t follow through with a satisfying climax or conclusion. An additional problem that surfaced after repeat spins; album memorability is surprisingly low. While I enjoy the vast majority of Black Flame Eternal in the moment, I don’t remember any of it once I walk away, even if only for a moment. Without sharper teeth to sink into my flesh and leave lasting scars, Black Flame Eternal lacks the capability to stick with me over time.

Cloak used the extra time they would have spent touring The Burning Dawn to hone their craft and work their third record more thoroughly. As a result, Black Flame Eternal is an improvement over their previous record, which I feel I slightly overrated in retrospect. This record is a fine example of what happens when you take your time to get things right and iron out the creases. These songs are stronger, more consistent in quality, and more engaging than anything Cloak has released thus far. Of course, there’s still much room for growth, but the band is in decent shape in 2023 and I have no doubt they will continue to improve.

Rating: Good.
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Season of Mist
Websites: cloakatlanta.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/cloakofficial
Releases Worldwide: May 26th, 2023

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