You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

It would be easy to assume that Atlanta, Georgia’s blackened death-rock outfit Cloak hail from Stockholm or Uppsala given their blend of trademark Necromorbus Studios-style Swedish black metal – a mixture of usual suspects like Watain, Dissection and Tribulation. To Venomous Depths utilises this same sonically melodic grooving, tremolo-driven template that Watain perfected on earlier albums and many bands have been building upon, adapting or straight up plagiarising ever since. Cloak’s rendition of a now-familiar formula is admirable in its skilfull amalgamation and execution, but at best their efforts can be only really enjoyed as an effective homage to their heroes or to those craving another Watain album. It seems a shame that a band with these kinds of abilities would be pursuing a sound so derivative when they are easily capable of so much more.