CLOAK Stream New Album ‘Black Flame Eternal’ In Its Entirety
May 23rd, 2023
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Atlanta, Georgia-based blackened heavy metal band Cloak issue third full-length studio album Black Flame Eternal on May 26th, 2023 through Season Of Mist.
The outing can be streamed in its entirety via YouTube below.
“All of our albums are created with a spiritual focus, dealing with how we see life, death, and everything in between. I think the earlier records dealt more with the mysteries that surrounded delving deeper into the world of dark spirituality, whereas the new material has taken what we’ve learned and used it to move forward with force,” said Cloak frontman Scott Taysom of the record’s underlying philosophy. “Black Flame Eternal is a statement of spiritual empowerment in every sense. For the first time we want people to grasp on to this sentiment, instead of keeping it completely personal within our world of Cloak. The themes and the sheer power can be felt much more within the songs that this album contains.”
“Our goal is complete spiritual liberation, which is where true power and freedom exists,” he added. “We’ve reached a point in history where people are forced to pick a side or to join a team, so to speak. Cloak stands in complete opposition to this. We aim to be a giant middle finger in the face of the empty modern world.”
Cloak cites the likes of Watain, Dissection, Danzig and Motörhead as influences. “These influences will always be important to us, as they are some of the best and most important bands of our time,” Taysom stated. “On the other hand, what is so special about getting to the third record of our career is that inspiration starts to move inwards. We had enough experience and material at this point to really know what we do best and how we can utilize these skills in the best way possible. If you look at some of the most iconic bands, their third albums were massive steps towards greatness. So to us, we feel our third record will be a very important one in our time as a band.”
Black Flame Eternal “was a conscious effort,” Taysom divulged. “Early on before the album even started, I knew it was going to be a much more aggressive and powerful album. I wanted to take a step away from certain sounds and add a bit of brutality back in. The overall vibe matches who we are much more, so it was only fitting to move towards this sound. It almost feels like we are going back to our roots as people in certain ways.
The Covid pandemic emerged shortly following the release of November 2019 predecessor The Burning Dawn. “Considering Cloak is a sacred space for us, these exterior things did not have as much of an impact as one might think,” Taysom shared. “But it was impossible to ignore some of what was going on throughout these tumultuous years. It’s bound to affect people’s personal lives and the way the mind works during these interesting times. One thing that it did greatly affect was the fact that we could not promote The Burning Dawn properly after the one US tour we did with 1349. We feel this hurt the record, but there was nothing we could do. We were one of the earliest out of the gate after venues started to open back up, and we’ve been continuing to tour in promotion of that album all the way up until now.”
The Covid pandemic and lockdown meant Cloak focused on making Black Flame Eternal. “The initial stage of the writing process started in January of 2020, and lasted all the way until May 2021,” Taysom said. “It was the longest spanning album process for us so far, with many long days, nights, and weeks trying to piece the songs together the best we could.” While the record did not come together swiftly or easily, the care and attention put into its creation is evident in its powerful composition.
Black Flame Eternal was recorded at The Green House. Mixing was handled by Cameron Webb, while the album was mastered at Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon.
Cover artwork was designed by Jordan Barlow.
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The track listing is as follows:
01. ‘Ethereal Fire’
02. ‘With Fury And Allegiance’
03. ‘Shadowlands’
04. ‘Invictus’
05. ‘Seven Thunders’
06. ‘Eye Of The Abyss’
07. ‘The Holy Dark’
08. ‘Heavenless’
09. ‘Black Flame Eternal’
Cloak’s line-up is as follows:
Scott Taysom (vocals and guitars)
Max Brigham (guitars)
Billy C. Robinson (bass)
Sean Bruneau (drums)
Co-directed by Nic Adams and Cloak frontman Scott Taysom, music videos were filmed for the tracks ‘Invictus’ and ‘The Holy Dark’. In addition, an official lyric video was created for the song ‘Seven Thunders’. All three clips can be viewed below.
Second studio record The Burning Dawn was released in October 2019 via Season Of Mist.
Promotional photograph by David Parham.
