Cloakroom Dissolution Wave

Ploughing a lonely furrow at the intersection between stoner-rock, shoegaze and doom-metal, Indiana trio Cloakroom has truly nailed its formula on album number three. Dissolution Wave is a rich and varied collection, which demonstrates surprising range without sacrificing cohesion. You need some touchstones? The doom-laden heavy riffs on songs like Lost Meaning evoke Kyuss; more spaced-out melodic offerings such as A Force at Play remind this listener of mid-90s Swervedriver, which is never a bad thing; the ground in between is more reminiscent of another great shoegaze-metal crossover record—Jesu’s 2007 opus, Conqueror. Cloakroom may be flying under the radar, but Dissolution Wave is a phenomenal record with a broader appeal than you’d expect. If you like your shoegaze heavy or your metal atmospheric, you’ll love it. And if you simply can’t find anything else appealing in an otherwise thin week for new releases? This may well surprise you.