Release Date: February 27th 2025. Record Label: Closed Casket Activities. Formats: CD/DD/Vinyl
Last Leg Of The Human Table - Track Listing:
1.The Pilot 04:28
2.Ester Wind 03:19
3.On Joy and Unbelieving 01:01
4.Unbelonging 03:30
5.The Lights are On 05:39
6.Bad Larry 04:28
7.Story of the Egg 04:25
8.On Joy and Undeserving 01:13
9.Cloverlooper 03:33
10.Turbine Song 05:12
Members
Timo Dinter - Vocals
Manuel Ciofalo - Guitar
Janek Huschke - Guitar
Tobias Rickli - Bass
Alexander Streit - Drums
Review
Last Leg Of The Human Table is the new album from Shoegaze/Stoner Rock specialists Cloakroom and this quite a different record compared to their acclaimed 2022 record Dissolution Wave. This record sees Cloakroom deconstruct their sound into something more minimal and experimental whilst retaining their trademark Psychedelic blend of Noise, Shoegaze, Indie, Stoner and Alternative sounds.
This record did take some time for me to find and form an emotional connection with. Cloakroom uses different musical techniques that we haven’t heard from them to deliver a richly observed and quite surreal record which perhaps leaves many questions unanswered on certain tracks on the album. That’s a bold strategy to use but the music is also superbly powerful with epic amounts of distorted grooves and quirky “outsider” poppier themes with a manic sludgy outlook which appear within the excellent opening tracks of The Pilot, Ester Wind and On Joy And Unbelieving.
With the band entering their second decade of existence, they’ve more than earned the right to release their “experimental” album and Last Leg Of The Human Table is that record. The record has a kinetic and fucked up energy which still manages to be quite sweet natured at times which has echoes of bands such as HUM, TORCHE and FLOOR with a sense of despairing darkness when the DISTORTED and DRONED instrumental passages appear with a sense of glitchy electronics being thrown in just for the hell of it.
I love how Cloakroom have used sounds and influences very dear to their heart from the Classic Rock scene from over the last sixty years or so and give them a modern day Space Rock/Doom-Pop makeover. The sound is perhaps inspired mostly by the sounds of the 1960’s and 1980’s with the lyrics and melodies being quite poetic with a certain “retro” quality to them.
Last Leg Of The Human Table is Cloakroom’s shortest record yet but it’s action-packed with different types of music from the Noise, Alt, Space Rock and Stoner Rock spectrum with a layer of distorted heaviness which becomes more present on tracks such as: Unbelonging, The Lights Are On, Bad Larry, Cloverlooper and Turbine Song.
Cloakroom even try their hand at areas such as Folk, Americana and Country though you won’t notice with the Doomgaze and Shoegaze attitude of the psychedelic sounds that heavily populate the whole album. The lyrics can be quite whimsical and earnest at times but it works to Cloakroom’s favour that allows them to become master storytellers in their own right.
Last Leg Of The Human Table is a brilliant, richly observed and post-modern take on all things HEAVY which Cloakroom delivers with passion from start to finish.
Words by Steve Howe
Links
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