Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Eruption
Label: Xtreem Music
Release: year_month
Length: 48:30
Rating: 4.5/5
Following a band’s evolution from its very beginnings isn’t a privilege you always get, but when you do, the joy of watching a group grow is, at least for the writer of this review, that much greater. It took five years for the extraterrestrial overlords to lift the veil on the new offering from Slovenian thrash outfit Eruption, who return after five years, counting from Tenses Collide, with a new studio record, ominously titled Cloaks of Oblivion.
Tenses Collide was a considerable step up from the debut Lifeless Paradise. That one was a relatively simple, genre-rooted thrash record, while its successor, with more complex arrangements and a far more technical approach, signaled a big, bold step out from behind the solid walls of thrash metal. I’m glad the band stuck to the path it charted with Tenses Collide, because Cloaks of Oblivion is its logical yet bolder and even more varied follow-up. The compositions are even more complex this time, and the album’s whole sonic picture sounds downright epic, helped along by the dark, ominous theme of Ancient Aliens-style sci-fi conspiracy theories.
The atmosphere fits that theme: it isn’t built on typical high-speed thrash alone, and most of the record is mid-tempo at best, which might not sit well with ears used to thrash velocity. There are still more than enough bursts of speed, though, and the whole thing is much more thought out. Slightly more open compositions and songs that run longer on average than before let every member of the band shine in their own department. Even though the tracks are longer this time, averaging almost six minutes, quality clearly beats quantity: they’re marked by technically polished performances, excellent, well-worked verses and strong choruses. The latter are brilliantly woven into the songs, not sticking out of the whole too much but assimilated into it as if the Borg had paid a visit.
Cloaks of Oblivion also brings plenty of novelty and freshness, mainly thanks to the top-notch performances by individual members I mentioned. The atmosphere of the songs is skillfully built in places by acoustic interludes, the devilish riffing of the Čuk/Kamenšek guitar duo, solos atypical for thrash (Reborn Into Demise leads the way), the gorgeous rumble of Nika’s bass, which constantly lays down a thick, solid foundation, and Ivan’s varied, dynamic drumming, which shines in parts like the blast beat in The Yearning (underpinning a fucking epic solo). Eruption also skillfully pick up the continuation of the story of Enter the Hive from the predecessor – this time, in Drones, we all become mere cells of a larger organism with no chance of individual (self-)awareness; human bees, in other words. The vocal performance is exceptional this time too: Klemen has gone from a regular thrash screamer to a top-class vocalist, best proven by the phenomenal This Barren Existence, which Klemen steals with a performance of growing intensity that ends, hair-raisingly, like a volcanic eruption. Whether intentionally or not, it recalls above all the vocal presence of Warrel Dane in early Sanctuary or Russ Anderson of Forbidden in the Twisted Into Form era.
What’s also really pleasing about Cloaks of Oblivion is that it doesn’t run out of steam and momentum toward the end. Quite the opposite: it seems Eruption saved their strongest material for the very finish, especially The Yearning, This Barren Existence, the »sequel« Celestial God Seven Archons and the seven-minute epic The Prophet. Cloaks of Oblivion is without a doubt Eruption’s strongest moment so far and it flies by like the Kessel Run in twelve parsecs. If all you want from thrash is speed and brutality, Cloaks of Oblivion might not fully satisfy you, but if you’re after »thinking man’s thrash«, you’ll be spinning the new album very, very often.
Lineup
Klemen Kalin – vocals
Ivan Cepanec – drums
Andrej Čuk – guitar
Grega Kamenšek – guitar
Nika Krmelj – bass
Production
Simon Jovanović and Eruption
Tracklist
1. Pharos
2. Sanity Ascend
3. Cloaks of Oblivion
4. Drones
5. Reborn Into Demise
6. The Yearning
7. This Barren Existence
8. Seven Archons
9. The Prophet
