High Roller Records
2014
1. Call Of The Dark Ones
2. Hell Diver
3. Deliverance
4. Brimstone And Fire
5. Northwind To Valhalla
6. Mutilator
7. Anti Matter Man
8. Cycle Of Hate
9. Premature Burial
10. Austrian Assault
Going into new Cloven Hoof I've gotta say I had no idea what to expect. I liked their early run and even their revival album Eye Of The Sun, but there are too many X factors here to have much in the way of expectations. The lineup on Resist Or Serve is once again completely different and this again comes a good number of years after their last original album. With this basically not being the same band except for Lee Payne I was curious, but completely uncertain what the new product would be like.
Well, listening to Resist Or Serve this kinda reminds me a bit of later Lizzy Borden although honestly not as good. Another comparison that comes to mind is Seven Witches after they ran out of steam around the Amped Album. Musically this is highly traditional and straightforward with just a bit of modernization in the guitar sound. In a similar way the vocals are traditional wailing, but with some slightly raspier bits that seem to try to be a little updated as well. Stylistically, this is just a little too typical and see through. Kind of like any given 80s has-been trying to update themselves in the most see through fashion possible. There's just nothing imaginative here. Add to that the songs aren't all that varied, lack direction, and the vocalist is a bit nasally and has too limited of a range to completely sell his wails and you have a recipe for mediocrity. If I heard this new Cloven Hoof as an opening band I'd probably say they didn't suck, were mostly competent musicians, but didn't really have the songwriting thing down yet. Really, if I had to come up with an example for completely average metal this could serve as a fine definition. Then as perhaps the death blow to what is an mediocre album anyway, the sound of this release seems both thin and muddy at the same time. The vocals in particular seem like you're hearing them through some sort of murky fog and get lost in the music.
With a typical approach, murky sound, and below average songwriting there's not really a lot of good I can say about this. The musicians seem competent, but that's about it. It doesn't outright suck, but I can't image listening to this again or that this sort of reunion attempt was worth it. There's just a lot of better music out there that is more worthy of my time. I'll just listen to the epicness and soaring vocals of A Sultan's Ransom and be happy. The band was once great, but that's probably in the past now.
Highlights: Not really no.
Rating - 1.5/5
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